Human--Inhuman
by StrangerInAStrangeWorld
Summary: He might be called the demon of Karakura High, but Ichigo's very happy that his classmates don't know the truth. Beneath his human form is that of a monster, one of the yokai who are hated and persecuted almost everywhere. When a mysterious yuki-onna appears and ropes him into hunting down corrupted yokai, can he maintain the facade? Yokai AU.
1. Inhuman to Human

_This idea's been in my head long enough that I think it's good enough to be put on paper. Well, not on paper, but I think you get what I mean. Enjoy! (And please review, because as much as I enjoy writing and giving others something to enjoy, I like it even more when I learn how I can improve!) Oh, and just so you know, this fic doesn't really contain any ships. They're too controversial in the fandom. I personally ship IshiHime, RenRuki, YoruHara, and HitsuKarin, but I read for other pairings too and I hope you'll like this enough to read it for the story and not for your preferred couples._

_Note: This first chapter takes place prior to Ichigo meeting Rukia, and will involve characters who don't have powers in canon getting them because frankly, they deserve powers. Oh, and some aspects may be dropped or changed due to the premise of the story. For instance, Soul Society is a place where many yokai live and work secretly, and the Gotei 13 is a government organization made up of yokai. Hollows are yokai who have been corrupted through various means. Those who in canon are humans that manifest spirit power will be humans with yokai ancestry who later become yokai._

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When Kurosaki Ichigo opens his eyes in the morning, he immediately wants to shut them. Mornings are too bright and busy, too many people and noises disrupting his thoughts and making it hard to just think. For a second, he does close his eyes, but just for a moment, because suddenly he hears light, gentle footsteps and the creak of his bedroom door. Yuzu, probably, but right now Ichigo doesn't care and wings a pillow at her head.

Hearing a squeak and the sound of his door closing, the orange-haired teen knows that it's found its mark. He also knows that it must've taken her plenty of courage to check up on him in the morning. But really, who wants to see their younger sister struggling to conceal her instinctive uneasiness and fear when it's their own fault?

See, a bunch of people are monsters in the morning. Only they're only monsters figuratively. Kurosaki Ichigo's quite literally a monster when he wakes up. Whenever he's unconscious, really, but he's been able to fight well for years, so no one's ever knocked him out, and Ichigo isn't all that clumsy.

Even his sisters, much as they try to conceal it, are scared by his appearance. Karakura High's most famous 'delinquent' isn't sure if that's his real form or just an alternate one that he changes into involuntarily. He's determined to think of himself as human, regardless of how he looks.

Grumbling, Ichigo rolls over and heaves himself out of bed. As soon as his feet hit the floor, the teen starts walking around, humming to himself as he shifts into his human form. Digitigrade feet, bull-like horns, white-patterned-with-red-and-black scales, wickedly sharp claws, lizard-like tail, fangs and yellow-on-black eyes, all vanish until the only strange thing about Ichigo is his orange hair- which, blessedly, is much shorter in human form too. As long as the teen is changing back from an involuntary transformation, aka when he's just woken up, it doesn't insist on staying ridiculously long.

By the time the transformation is complete, Ichigo's pulled a shirt over his head and begun to work on underwear. It's far too much of a pain to try to modify clothing to suit his other form, so the so-called 'Strawberry' sleeps nude. Any pajamas he owns are just to give the impression of normalcy or for days when he doesn't have school.

That's how it's been for as long as Ichigo can remember. His father's annoyingly frequent attacks- which only let up when his son is asleep or has just woken up for obvious reasons- began to give the teen practice at staying in human form when startled or attacked. It's an all-too-common occurrence for someone to decide to pick on him for his unusual hair color. After Ichigo perfected staying in human form at all times, the 'training' served to teach him the ability to fight back without revealing his inhuman strength. The fact that it gave his human form muscles, making his power much more plausible, is an added benefit.

Running a comb through his spiky hair, the teen finishes his morning routine and heads downstairs. A yawned greeting in the form of "Yo" provides this morning's first attempt at social interaction. Technically, he's conscious, but that doesn't mean Ichigo's _awake. _Anyone who wants to say anything that needs to be remembered has to say it at lunch at the earliest.

This morning's breakfast, prepared by Yuzu as usual, is miso soup and rice, making Ichigo very grateful that his human form is omnivorous. A breakfast that consists only of meat is an expensive and time-consuming one. He isn't exactly sure if his other form is allergic to anything that isn't meat, or if he just can't process it. The only time he ever tried eating vegetables that way, he threw up.

Having devoured his portion, Ichigo rushes to be ready for school, taking time only to clean off his plate and brush his teeth hurriedly before grabbing his book bag and dashing out the door with a goodbye yelled over his shoulder. With teachers already on his case, the last thing he needs is tardiness.

The orange-haired teen has a bunch of things to be worried about when it comes to school. If it isn't teachers punishing him at a moment's notice for being a supposed delinquent, it's the actual delinquents who try to start fights with him, constantly hurling insults like 'yokai-fucker.' It's one of the worst insults, one used generally for anyone considered to be a freak. It makes Ichigo very, very grateful that they don't know he actually is a yokai.

Yokai are stigmatized in most places, to the extent that he's heard adults talking about how they're happy to live in a town without yokai. It's supposed to be illegal to discriminate against them, and a few celebrities and such proclaim that they're friendly to yokai- a couple are registered yokai themselves- but it's obvious to everyone that that isn't the case. You can get fired if people find out you're yokai, or passed over for a job, or bullied relentlessly- in some places, they're hunted down as abominations. Plenty of places tout themselves as being 100% human, and you have to register as yokai and wear a bright red armband if you're discovered to be one. It's illegal to hide or remove the band, and the things are practically impossible even for a yokai to destroy.

On one level, it makes sense to Ichigo. People should be able to tell at a glance if the sweet-looking old lady asking you to help find a pair of earrings she lost in a dark alley is actually a centuries-old onibaba who wants to eat your liver. Thing is, the armband doesn't tell you what kind of yokai the person is, and there's no guarantee that a member of a given species—the government calls them races, but it's not fooling anyone— has a temperament anywhere close to how the species is portrayed in legend. Most yokai are ordinary people who don't look human sometimes. But then you get the yokai who abuse their powers or are absolutely depraved, and that makes every single one look bad.

Yeah, if Ichigo has to choose between getting taunted for his hair color and being ostracized and feared for his whole life because of something he can't help, he'll choose the former any day. Consequently, no one outside his family knows his secret.

"Hey! Ichigo!" A loud voice jolts him out of his thoughts, and the orange-haired boy blinks as he finds that his feet have carried him to school. A girl with short, spiky black hair dashes over to him and thrusts something at him. "I brought back that Bad Shield United DVD you lent me a while back." Tatsuki explains breathlessly, hair still wet from showering after early-morning karate practice. "Turns out it was under my bed the whole time."

Ichigo rolls his eyes at his oldest childhood friend. "Told you you hadn't given it back yet." He replies, taking the DVD and stuffing it in his book bag. "Hey, did you make a study guide for that science test? There were a bunch of patients yesterday and I didn't have time to study." Ichigo doesn't actually help out with patients— torn, bloody flesh and vulnerable invalids make his instincts, even weakened in human form, go crazy—but the noise his family makes is enough to make it impossible to study.

"Ah, shut it." The black belt grumbles, but she fishes around in her backpack and pulls out a few sheets of paper. "Here ya go. Orihime helped me on it a bit, so it should be helpful." She hands the papers over.

Ichigo scans them a few times before grinning at Tatsuki. "Thanks, Dragon Girl. Keigo here already?" Tatsuki's not yokai, as the exhausted ends of her frequent bouts of insane martial arts training have confirmed time and time again, but the characters that make up her name and her fittingly fiery personality make the nickname obvious.

She slugs him in the shoulder. "Stop calling me that. And yes, the sugar-crazed squirrel on drugs is here. C'mon, idiot. I've been waiting for ten minutes to hand you the DVD."

The two head for their homeroom, completing the morning ritual of clotheslining Keigo in the process. Tatsuki parts ways with Ichigo to join her group of friends as he walks over to his own friends.

Keigo, still clutching a tissue to his bleeding nose, is there, giving the orange-haired teen a strangled greeting while the quiet Mizuiro gives him a much more intelligible hello. Chad grunts in acknowledgement. Coming from him, that's a fairly normal and friendly action, so Ichigo relaxes his constant scowl slightly for his friends.

A few minutes later, four pieces of chalk fly through the air to strike each teen in the head. Chad and Ichigo barely notice it, durable as they are, but Mizuiro winces and Keigo overreacts wildly to it with flailing arms and tears glistening in his eyes. The orange-haired teen thinks as he takes his seat, Ochi-sensei bellowing for the four to sit down, that his neurotic friend should get an award for acting. There's no way a person can genuinely be that hyperactive.

The day goes pretty much as it normally does. Lunch outside- Yuzu was kind enough to leave some beef tongue left over from last night- with Chad, Keigo, and Mizuiro is interrupted only by some gorillas who still didn't get that they were far outclassed by Ichigo alone, let alone Ichigo with a giant half-Mexican friend backing him up. They slink away after having their faces beat in, pausing only to snarl the usual epithets:

"Foreign devil! Yokai-fucker!"

Pretty normal for them.

At the end of the day, Ichigo bids Tatsuki goodbye as she heads off to after-school practice at the dojo- training for a tournament, apparently. He quit karate a while ago- it's one thing fighting largely untrained idiots at school, but there's too great a risk that people who've actually been taught martial arts will land a lucky blow. Even in school, the 'strawberry' tries to keep fights short and never goes for blows that might result in him taking a hit to the head.

Mizuiro heads off to Keigo's house with said nutcase, saying that all his girlfriends have obligations today and Mizuho's cooking is better than nothing. Ichigo isn't sure if he should be appalled that the young Casanova admits to using and manipulating his friends without any sign of remorse, or grudgingly appreciative that at least Mizuiro is honest.

Chad has a gig with his band today, so that leaves Ichigo walking home alone. He catches sight of the similarly-colored Orihime out of the corner of his eye as he exits the schoolyard and briefly considers making sure she's okay to head home by herself- after all, ever since her brother Sora died, the ditzy yet brilliant girl has no one but the ever-vigilant Tatsuki. But no, Ryo, Chizuru, Michiru, and Mahana have persuaded her to join their study group. From the faint snatches of conversation his enhanced hearing picks up, a karaoke club is in the future too.

Ichigo is just about to make it home without trouble when he sees some thugs cornering a small family- a mother and father with their little girl. Even across the street, the orange-haired teen can feel the almost static-electricity-like sensation that means the three are yokai. He doesn't have to see the red bands that each one wears.

"You freaks think you can just come into our town? We don't want monsters like you in it!" The ring-leader, a wiry man, shouts at them. Ichigo tenses, not sure if he should step in.

"W-we just want directions!" The mother whimpers. "Please don't hurt us!"

Sounding close to tears, the little girl adds, "My mommy and daddy didn't do nothing to you! Leave us alone, bullies!"

The ring-leader leans in close to her and sneers. "They came into a _human _town, demon-spawn. And you, you just disrespected us."

"Yeah!" One of his cronies blurts. "We ain't gonna let yokai scum like you talk to us that way!" He snatches the little hard-backed book she's carrying and hurls it at their car's windshield, making an audible crack.

That decides it. Crossing the street, Ichigo calls out, "Hey, dumbass. Maybe they came into a human town, but you came onto _my _street. Meaning I get to break some arms for you deciding that you can just terrorize a little girl and her family. And they aren't gonna be yokai arms I'm breakin'." The teen cracks his knuckles for emphasis, mentally praying that they'll heed his reputation.

"Th-they aren't even human!" The leader blurts, even as he and his friends take a few steps back.

"And you don't deserve to be called human, scum. Get out of here before I decide your heads are too thick for words to work and start cracking 'em." Ichigo takes a deliberate step forward and they run, practically tripping over themselves in an effort to get away.

With that, he releases a frustrated sigh and turns, scooping the book off the windshield and crouching down to hand it back to the little girl. Big brown eyes look up at him in awe, and she takes it with a nervous smile. Ichigo straightens to see her mother looking just as surprised.

"I didn't think you'd stand up for us," She says. "People haven't bothered before."

The orange-haired teen rubs the nape of his neck sheepishly. "I didn't think I'd have to fight, really. They know my rep. 'Demon of Karakura High' and all." He chuckles. "Though most of the time they just settle for 'yokai-fucker.'" The orange-haired teen winces. "Ah, sorry for my language."

She brushes a strand of black hair out of her face, frowning. "You're a delinquent? I figured yokai-blooded or something, but maybe we've just lived in a yokai-only neighborhood for so long that I'm used to that."

"Nah, everyone just picks on me for my hair. Besides, I'm human. Maybe a god mixed up the kids and I was meant to born in Ireland or something." Ichigo shrugs, shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably.

The father looks unconvinced, but he nods anyway. "Well then, nice to meet you, 'Demon of Karakura High.' I'm Horigoshi Masaaki, by the way. This is my wife Aiko and my daughter Mizuki." He gestures to each of them in turn.

Their unexpected savior gives them one of his rare smiles, seeing a matching one appear on the little girl's face. "Nice to meet you all" Eager to change the subject, he adds, "So, you needed directions? I wouldn't recommend staying around here too long- some idiots are bound to take things into their own hands again."

"Oh, yes. We're visiting some relatives in Musashino..."

Soon enough, the family is on their way, waving off the dent in the windshield as something that'll get fixed later. Meaning he'll find a yokai mechanic or a really tolerant human one.

His arrival at home is met with the expected "IIICHIIIGOOOO!" and wild charge from his father, naturally. Does the guy think he's some kind of comedy relief in an anime or something? Maybe that kind of thing was okay years ago when he still scored nearby surfaces with his claws accidentally when angry, but by now it's just annoying.

A kick to the face later and the old man is lying on the ground moaning. "Flexibility!" Isshin calls wearily from his place on the floorboards.

"Whatever!" His son yells back, though he files the reprimand away anyway.

Being yokai has a couple perks. His sight and hearing are a bit sharper than normal, as are his reflexes. Ichigo hasn't been sick once in his life, though he fakes it every so often in school and acts as if he's just forcing himself to come to school to keep his grades up. Of course, there's his physical strength, speed, and flexibility too, which are well beyond normal for his age and size. The Kurosaki family's eldest son tones all his superhuman abilities down as best he can and tries not to react when he sees or hears things that a normal human wouldn't notice.

It's not so much the fact that he isn't a normal human that he hates as much as what everyone else's reaction to it would be if they knew.

Heading up to his room, Ichigo spends most of the evening on homework and studying like any good student. He isn't real eager to give people more chances to jump down his throat, and despite his father's assurance that it's fine for him to resume extracurriculars, the orange-haired teen is still cautious. Mostly just irritated by his classmates, but caution sounds a lot better to parents.

Dinner is Korean-style barbecue, which Ichigo scarfs down as quickly as possible before leaving. The way Karin and Isshin carry on with their chopstick battles is enough to drive him through the roof without even being in the same room. Still, he's sure that he'd strangle them both if he actually did stay there, so the Kurosaki family's eldest child gets out while he still can, narrowly dodging a piece of food.

Flopping back on his bed, Ichigo sighs. Even as a freak, he's out-weirded by his own family. He'd laugh if they didn't do this kind of stuff so regularly.

Dropping into a light doze, designed to give the illusion of sleep without making him change form, Ichigo lies there for a few minutes before hearing the sound of his window sliding open, a buzz of yokai energy that gives the feeling of suppression and concealment following it.

_What the hell?_

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_So there you have it! Believe me when I say I'll continue it without reviews, unlike the authors I've seen who promise to write more chapters if they get more reviews._

_Guess who appeared at the end?_


	2. Life to Death

_Huh. Well, I never actually thought this would have any demand. I don't say this as one who fishes for compliments/reviews, though I may be guilty of doing that. I started writing this for myself, but hey, accidental good things are good things too!_

_Oh, and by the way, I'll be making modifications to the Shinigami uniform._

**-I am a line break, beginning the story-**

Ichigo sits up with a start as feet hit the floor, a light tap of boots sounding out of place on the wood. He's confronted with the sight of a young woman, shorter than Ichigo despite the fact that he isn't even standing. Violet eyes- actually violet, like she's some Mary Sue protagonist of a swords-and-sorcery series- scan the room, narrowing as the girl frowns.

"Where is it? I thought I sensed the hollow, but something's blocking me." She murmurs.

"Block this!" Ichigo snaps, chucking a pillow at her head. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my room? There are laws, you know!"

The makeshift projectile hits its mark, and the girl jerks, rubbing her head and staring at him. "That's impossible. A human can't see me!" She exclaims.

_So she's yokai, then...But not wearing a band? _"Are you a crazy burglar, or just incompetent?" The orange-haired teen demands incredulously. "I know I'm not registered, but you could at least try, I dunno, something!" He wiggles his fingers as he says the last word, trying to convey the use of whatever yokai ability she has. Some people say yokai have magic abilities, but Ichigo's never known how or tried. Sounds like a bunch of superstitious crap to him.

Burglar-Girl, as he dubs her, brushes a strand of black hair out of her eyes and looks at him quizzically. "_You're _yokai? You look like just a human delinquent to me, but it's not like I can tell with whatever's blocking my _reiatsu _sense." She dismisses it with a wave of her hand. "Not my problem. There's a hollow somewhere around here, and it's endangering people as we speak."

"Hollow? What are you talking about? Explain yourself and why you've invaded my room, burglar!" Ichigo yells, prompting his father to throw open the door.

"Eh? Ichigo? What're you yelling about? Yuzu and Karin are complaining about the noise." Isshin says.

"What the hell, old man? She's standing literally right there!" His son complains, gesturing with both hands to where Burglar-Girl stands, looking between the two in confusion.

"Ichigo, my boy, if you've grown so desperate for a woman's love that you're willing to make up an imaginary girlfriend, Daddy's ready to give you some tips! Now, you'd have to be careful not to sleep with her, but kissing-" The dark-haired doctor is abruptly cut off as he's shoved out of the room and the door is slammed on him.

"Shut up, goat-chin!" Ichigo roars, whirling and pointing a finger at the intruder. "Don't think you can just-Aagh!" Now it's his turn to be abruptly cut off as his limbs suddenly lock up, dropping him to the ground.

Burglar-Girl is smirking at him, one black-suited arm raised, palm out, to face him. "A civilian like you, whether you're yokai or not- and I suspect not-, can't hope to have enough power to fight against Kido. I was top of my class." She brags. "Now it's time for a lesson in how Shinigami operate."

The violet-eyed girl proceeds to give him a crash course in Psychotic Delusions 101 with bunny drawings. Apparently she thinks she's a Shinigami hunting monsters called Hollows- it was originally a stupid acronym for Hazardous to Living Organisms. All sentient beings can become Hollows when they come close to death, particularly yokai-blooded humans or yokai. Sometimes yokai, looking for more power, become corrupted and transform into these monsters with some freaky suicide ritual. Normal humans who suffer great trauma and are killed or nearly killed can develop a kind of pseudo-yokai power from intense negative emotions and are transformed into Hollows.

And she expects him to believe that she's part of a top-secret government organization, made up mainly of yokai-blooded humans, called the Gotei 13 that kills Hollows and guards souls- primarily human, since they make up the vast majority of people- until they reincarnate. Yeah, Burglar-Girl is crazy. But she's also wrapped in an unfamiliar, yokai-derived energy that apparently makes her invisible to humans and dressed in the kind of stuff that you don't get if you're a mental escapee: a black, padded suit that looks upon closer inspection to be made of thousands of tiny rings that glint dully if you look at them out of the corner of your eyes and a sword of all things.

Ichigo decides to go with crazy. "Oh yeah, that's definitely believable. Of course that's insane, moron! You expect me to believe that a little girl who's clearly been in some kind of asylum-wide cosplay festival and run off is actually a monster hunter that works with other monster hunters who happen to be monsters themselves?! Your drawings aren't even good!"

"Shut up, punk!" She howls, grabbing a marker and scribbling a mustache on his face. Could be worse, the orange-haired yokai supposes. "My drawings are great! You're just a tasteless delinquent!"

Frantically trying to rub off the marker, Ichigo misses the rest of what his captor says as a blood-curdling howl splits the air. Not blood-curdling as in 'that old-fashioned expression people use to describe something loud that makes you jump.' Blood-curdling as in 'a sound that makes your blood go cold with adrenaline and grown men quake in terror and ask for their brown pants.'

"Hey! Freak! Didn't you hear that? What the hell?" He yells, squirming on the ground to try to get a good look at her face.

"What do you-" The raw, tortured scream sounds again. "A Hollow? But-"

Suddenly, Ichigo's door swings open, and Yuzu collapses on the ground, blood dripping from a massive gash on her chest. "Ichi..nii...run." She gasps in pain, eyes sliding shut as her face goes ashen grey.

Burglar-Girl's eyes widen as she crosses the room in a few quick strides, gently moving Ichigo's younger sister to a more comfortable position away from the door. The black-haired girl straightens and dashes out of the room, oblivious to her victim's cries.

"C'mon! Let me go! That's my family!" The orange-haired teen screams to the empty room, struggling with all his might against the invisible force keeping him from moving. "Release me, dammit!" He howls wordlessly, as desperate as the beast outside. Abruptly, something gives, and Ichigo's sight blurs and wavers. For a second, he sees rings of kanji encircling him, flashing gold as he tests their strength. He writhes against his bindings with the strength of fury and fear, and they shatter. Just like that.

Ichigo scrambles to his feet, shoving the slight physical changes that accompanied his freedom back beneath his human form almost without realizing it. There's no time to realize or wonder, just to _move, _to fight and strike and rip through the defenses of anyone in his path.

He charges through the house, bursting out into the open air as he discovers a convenient exit in the form of a gaping tear in the wall. The girl is standing, sword drawn and raised, in front of a massive _thing. _Ichigo can't even call it a monster, or a creature, even a beast, because none of these things are meant to describe an abomination like this, a hulking, masked thing that goes beyond bestial savagery and the nature of any yokai he's ever heard of. It's an entity, not something that can be summed up with any word that any language has ever created.

Except one. _Hollow. _

A hole takes the place of flesh above the Hollow's heart, beneath a leering fish-like mask. Is that _bone? _Plates cover its shoulders and arms, a dorsal fin swaying on a slate-striped back, the pattern of which is barely noticeable with its leaden hide. The feeling pouring off of it is like concentrated fear and predatory instincts.

The sense of yokai energy isn't one that Ichigo's ever been able to describe to his family. It's something like feeling someone's emotions even when they're trying to conceal it, through so many little cues that it feels more like a cloud of emotion around them, yet somehow separate from your own. You could even compare it to a limited extent to the sense of raw emotion and feeling you get at a concert, with everyone surging around you. This feels a bit more like suddenly plunging into the deep end of a pool, but it doesn't make his ears pop.

The Hollow is radiating the kind of aura that, independent of its appearance and voice, would be enough to send the toughest delinquent at Karakura High curling up on the floor bawling. You don't know that feeling until you've done something that you're genuinely terrified of. It's not panic, or shock, or the mild fear you get when something unseen crawls over your arm. It's standing in front of a snarling tiger on top of an unstable cliff at night while naked. Fear for your life.

Ichigo nearly succumbs to the aura pressing on his every sense. Nearly. He fights it off with a numb realization that he can't. It isn't a matter of won't, or shouldn't, but instead can't. Ichigo can't run away and cower in a corner. He needs to stand and fight in a way that he's never needed anything before. For Karin caught bleeding in his claws, for Yuzu groaning on the floor, for Isshin helpless to stop it all.

Burglar-Girl. This means she isn't a burglar. She's telling the truth, and it makes him want to scream with frustration, because if she knows what she's talking about, he doesn't stand a chance.

But he _needs _to stand a chance. So Ichigo grabs a baseball bat conveniently left there by some neighborhood kids and charges the Hollow with a screech that's part terror and part rage. How _dare _this freak of nature hurt his sisters! How _dare _it threaten him! Even though the rational part of him knows it would be better not to telegraph where he is, the emotional part that's taken control knows he has to shout. Otherwise he'll lose the battle from fear before he even starts.

The Shinigami turns, startled, and in that moment the Hollow strikes, sending her flying and turning on Ichigo, punching at him and following up with a swipe of its claws.

"Human-yokai, such a blend, which are you?" It mutters raggedly. "Doesn't matter, you're going to be tasty!"

The teen is sent reeling back by the punch, gasping as his arm breaks. He flinches, unable to right himself in time, muscles clenching as he prepares for the claws to tear into him. But...they don't. Instead, his eyes open to see a slender girl with her sword held up in front of her, biting into the Hollow even as its claws jerk free and bring blood spurting through. The monster drops Karin, who hits the ground unconscious. Ichigo stares at the remnants of the bat in his hands, helpless and stunned.

Reality itself tears around the Hollow, who vanishes backwards and reappears seconds later, slashing at the Shinigami and Ichigo again with a deafening howl, its wounds restored.

"Why won't you die? I gave myself for this power! Why won't you give in to it?" It screeches.

The slight girl hits the wall as Ichigo twists away instinctively. Pain disfigures her pretty face, a yelp of pain escaping her mouth. That's what decides it, just as the teen had his actions decided for him earlier that day. Not just his family. Ichigo can't let her hurt. He can't let anyone hurt from now on.

So falls the blade of fate.

In a mad berserker's rush, the yokai boy charges his opponent. Time, he finds, doesn't slow down. It speeds up, becoming a rush of _stepstepstepLEAPSCREAMSTRIKE! _

Those horrible sickle-like claws curve through the air, twistedly elegant even with their grotesque bloodstains. They will reap their harvest today, Ichigo knows it. But maybe, just maybe, if it takes him it won't take anyone else.

It doesn't take him. The Shinigami's sword has sliced into the upper portion of its hideous mask, prompting a rumbling yet high-pitched roar of pain. The Hollow pulls back, readying itself for another attack.

Before Ichigo can even thank her, he sees her sink to her knees, groaning as more blood floods the pavement. He immediately kneels beside her.

"Hey! Lady, you can't die on me! Lady!" Ichigo hisses urgently.

"There's no hope, boy. You don't have the strength to fight a Hollow, and it would never be satisfied with your death. To gain power, this one has become a crime against the order of things. It can never fill the void. I was your defense. Now we will both be its meals." Her eyes begin to slide shut.

"No! I won't let them die! I won't let any of you die! I need to protect my family!" Ichigo cries, half-sobbing, as he shakes the Shinigami. "Please!"

The girl's violet eyes open again, staring into his brown ones. "You...would do anything for those you love. I see." She shoves herself into a sitting position. "Take my sword and point it at your heart. It's a last resort. You'll either gain the power of one who has met death, or you'll die. Do you accept the duty of a Shinigami, boy?"

Ichigo seizes her sword by the blade, feeling its unexpectedly sharp edge actually cut his skin, the pain vanishing as adrenaline numbs him. "Kurosaki Ichigo. My name's not boy, it's Kurosaki Ichigo, Shinigami."

She smiles sadly. "Kuchiki Rukia. My name's not Shinigami, it's Kuchiki Rukia."

Rukia pushes forward as she grasps the hilt. Ichigo pulls back as he holds the blade.

The world shatters.

Ichigo's body quakes. Suddenly he's not Ichigo anymore, but instead a petite girl running through city streets, sobbing with the terrible pain of loneliness and separation. People are yelling behind him drunkenly, words slurred. But they don't need to be sober to hit her when they fire over and over and over again.

Pain blossoms in his chest as he falls to the ground. There comes bleak unconsciousness, then waking and feeling a static-like sensation running over his body that he instinctively knows means hiding. A middle-aged woman stands in front of her, dressed as he knows Rukia is dressed in the real world, offering a hand and badge that reads 'Soul Society' in English letters.

Then the orange-haired teen is thrown back into his body. He stands by Rukia, who's clad in the same bloody clothes he wore in his vision, as he wears a suit that matches what she used to be wearing. But Ichigo doesn't pay attention to that much, because suddenly he knows he can _fight. _A massive sword, as long as he is tall, rests in his right hand.

"You'll regret ever coming near the Kurosaki family." Ichigo says, forcing the double-voiced growl out of his voice and the emerging transformation from his body. With this power, he'll never need to take on that form again.

Swish. Slice. Howl. Thud. Dissolution.

Kurosaki Ichigo sways and tips over, passing out.

**-I am a line break, ending the story-**

_I imagine that Ichigo had to go through Rukia's death when he became a Shinigami. Just because it sounds cool. Oh, and I'm portraying Fishbone D (the Hollow's name) as a corrupt yokai. _

_I doubt anyone's wondering, but Ichigo didn't take on his natural form because he was conscious through the transformation. In a weird way. And Rukia was in human form too. So. Yeah._

_Yes, you have to go through death/near-death experience to become a Shinigami._


	3. Body to Soul

_Ah, the adventures of Ichigo and Rukia, they have begun. Question: do you think that Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo (yes, even Keigo) should receive powers? I kinda need to know soon, since Orihime got her powers with Tatsuki very close by and they could receive powers together. Keigo and Mizuiro, I dunno. Mizuiro could be really great with spiritual power, I think. He's already got bombs and tasers._

_Oh, and for the record, Isshin got Ichigo back in bed. Rukia was too weakened to stay conscious for long and he enlisted Urahara's help to get everyone healed. I personally thought that needed explaining because if Rukia doesn't have the strength to perform a simple Hado, she wouldn't have the chance to heal three severely wounded people and one mildly wounded person, as well as herself. I also enjoy making Ichigo eager to hide his real form. Let's face it: If you'd had it drummed into you by all of society that a secret of yours was horrible and disgusting and such, even by your family (unintentionally), you'd be pretty damn eager to keep that secret (excuse my language, I'm actually a Gosh Dang it to Heck person in real life, but in real life I have body language and verbal tone to help.)_

_Sorry so much for the long, long author talk, but despite the fact that Ichigo should be fighting Acidwire/Sora very shortly, this chapter ended up being long enough and talking enough that that'll be in the next chapter. I can't squeeze everything that the animators can into a short period of time, eyes needing time to read instead of just looking at an image. And with my love of expo-speak, it's detailed enough to me._

* * *

When Ichigo wakes up, he's in his bed. Mentally running through his memories of the previous night, the teen's rather confused. Shinigami? A monster? Swords and his family nearly dying? If the sound of pots and pans clinking downstairs is anything to go by, the other Kurosakis are very much alive and not in the hospital as they would be if they'd really been hurt that badly. Which means that the Korean barbecue must've sat badly with him and given him weird dreams. Figures.

One morning transformation routine later, Ichigo's heading downstairs, struggling with getting one arm through its sleeve with an annoyed growl as he finally manages the simple yet difficult task. His annoyance is abruptly replaced by shock as he notices the fact that there's a massive hole in the wall. The same exact hole that he ran through to tackle that monster in his dream, down to the piece of rubble to the right of it that looks like a heart.

The orange-haired teen stares at it, dumbfounded, for a few seconds before Karin's voice shakes him out of his daze.

"You gonna come have breakfast or not, Ichi–oh wait, maybe not."

Before he can ask what she means, Ichigo has to dodge a sudden punch at his shoulder from Isshin, and a follow-up one at his head. He catches the second one with his right hand and, glaring all the while, twists his father's arm so that the old man yelps in pain.

"You can't let me have a few minutes to wake up all the way, can you, old man?!" The orange-haired teen demands. "Idiot! I bet you didn't even notice the fact that we have a giant hole in the wall!"

Still grimacing in pain, Isshin glances over and blinks. "Oh yeah! A drunk truck driver ran into the clinic last night! It's a miracle no one was hurt! Don't worry, Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan, Daddy would've let his life fall apart in grief if you'd been killed."

Ichigo gives his father's arm one last twist and lets go. "Hey! What about me? And what about the fact that none of us woke up when a fuckin' truck rammed our house? How is that even possible?" _More like, how is it possible that none of you remember being mauled by a Hollow? How are you okay? And what makes you think a truck did it?_

His family looks at each other and gives a collective shrug.

"Nah, you're pretty durable." Karin comments. "And maybe some god was looking out for us. I don't care so long as I don't miss school today. Speaking of which, you'd better eat up or you'll be late too."

"Oh! Right." Her brother scarfs down his breakfast as quick as possible. Just as he rises to set his bowl over on the counter, Ichigo's stopped by Yuzu.

"Ichi-nii, have you seen my pajamas? I can't find them and I thought maybe they got mixed in with your clothes." His more domestic sister has a slight frown on her face.

Ichigo shakes his head. "Nope. Don't think they're in with my stuff. Hey, has Dad called a repair service or whatever? No way we'll be able to get all that fixed right." He nods at where part of the house used to be.

Yuzu nods. "Yes, I think so. Go to school, Ichi-nii. We can finish up here." She says firmly.

"Fine, fine..."

One mad dash later, Ichigo bursts into homeroom just as the bell rings shrilly. The sound's nostalgic to some administrator, so every time the school tries to get them updated, they're mysteriously blocked. Ichigo wants that administrator's name, because if those bells stay one more day he's pretty sure he'll go crazy. High-pitched sounds are not kind to yokai hearing.

"Oh, Kurosaki. You just missed being late." Ochi-sensei comments, making a mark on her clipboard. "Well, sit down. I think Asano's going to have a fit soon."

The orange-haired teen plunks himself down besides Keigo just in time for the classroom door to swing open.

"So sorry to interrupt, Ochi-san, but I've got a new transfer student for you." A blob-faced man says. Okasawa Takao, the English teacher, if Ichigo can recall correctly. Then again, he could be Takahata Kojiro, too... eh, he's never been much good with names.

But that puzzlement fades away quickly as he sees the person ushered in. A small, violet-eyed girl with a sweet smile walks briskly to the front of the classroom.

"Thanks, Takahata-san." Ochi-sensei replies, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. "Now, how about you introduce yourself? Better if everyone knows who you are before classes start and they have to work with you."

The girl bows deeply. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia. Nice to meet you all." Straightening, Rukia turns and writes her name on the board, family name in kanji and given name in katakana. Yep, that handwriting isn't too hard to recognize when you've had to read it in terrible bunny-drawings the night before. The question is, why is that handwriting on the blackboard of his homeroom?

Ichigo rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands. This is going to be problematic, he knows it already.

"Alrighty then... Go sit next to Kurosaki. He's-"

"The delinquent with the orange hair in the back? Yes, Ochi-sensei." The smiling little devil finishes, threading her way through the chairs and sitting down beside him, legs crossed neatly.

Great. Now he's going to have to explain how he knows her. And 'She turned up in my bedroom last night wrapped in yokai energy that made her invisible to humans and ended up giving me enough of her power to kill a monster that attacked. How could _I_ see her, you ask? Well, it's a funny story...' does not cut it as an explanation.

Ochi-sensei finishes reading off the morning bulletin- karate club's looking for people to loan their cars or just some money so they can get to the tournament, and the craft club's accepting new requests for repairs- and lets them talk for a few minutes. Cue Keigo, Chad, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki approaching.

"Yo," Tatsuki says by way of greeting. "Kuchiki-san, right? How d'you know this idiot?"

"Yeah!" Keigo chimes. "Did you meet when he swept you off your feet and saved you from a dragon with only heroic willpower to fight with and take on a yakuza clan right after and- What? It's possible!" Well, he's not wrong about Ichigo trying to fight a monster with the power of his will and saving Rukia...

She laughs, flapping a hand demurely. "Oh, nothing so adventurous." The look Rukia gives Ichigo, however brief, tells him that she's no more eager for them to know her true nature than he is. Good.

"That's not really an answer, y'know. Someone might think you're secretly dating or something. We don't need that kind of- Oh, heaven help me. One sec." The black belt catches sight of a certain red-headed lesbian sneaking up on Orihime and promptly marches across the room. The three students hear a 'Banzai!' quickly cut off as a callused fist slams into Chizuru's back, knocking her to the ground, where Tatsuki proceeds to keep her via pressing one shoe on her back.

After a very quick and heated argument and an apology to Orihime, Tatsuki drags her friend back with her over to the group. The notoriously voluptuous schoolgirl blushes as she spots Ichigo and gives a nervous wave to the band.

"Chizuru try something again, Dragon Girl?" The orange-haired teen asks in amusement. Rukia looks almost curious and eager for a second before Ichigo gives her a very slight shake of the head.

"Yeah, that perv. So, back to what I was saying. We don't need more rumors and drama around here with people like Chizuru and Mizuiro. Are you two dating or not?" Tatsuki demands. Mizuiro gives them all a wide-eyed, innocent look that fools no one. There are five good reasons in spring to beware of the resident Casanova, and seven in winter and fall.

"We're _not _dating!" Ichigo snaps. "I, uh, met her the other day when I was coming home and gave her directions. That's all." When in doubt, take inspiration from real life.

Rukia nods happily. "Yes, that's what happened. Kurosaki-san was very helpful."

Tatsuki gives them a raised eyebrow. "Yep, I'm sure. Hey, Ichigo, why were you late this morning? It's not like you."

The orange-haired teen shrugs. "Apparently a truck ran into the clinic last night. Somehow nobody woke up and I had to help a little bit tidying up and stuff."

"Need help?" Chad rumbles. As if it's possible for him not to rumble, being that big.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though," Ichigo replies.

"Then Mizuiro and I can go hang out with you today?" Keigo asks eagerly. "You've been so busy lately, and Mizuho's... Oh, never mind. She's always nagging me. 'Moron, why don't you go study or something?'" He mocks in a high, whiny voice.

The bell screeches, prompting a simultaneous wince from Ichigo and Rukia. All the students rise and head off to their next classes.

"Yeah, I'll call you if the old man doesn't want help or something." The yokai teen says with a slight smile as they cross the threshold. Neurotic as Keigo might seem in school, he's sincere and bright outside, when people don't expect him to be a class clown. Mizuiro's the same, sarcastic and eerily observant in school but simply insightful and loyal to his friends. Most people think it's a miracle that no-nonsense Ichigo ever became friends with the two, but to the trio themselves it's hardly out of the ordinary.

It's a few minutes after lunch that Rukia comes pelting down the hallway, seizing a fistful of Ichigo's shirt with a hissed "Don't make trouble" and dragging him off. When the two have stopped and the orange-haired teen can catch his breath- short legs or not, Rukia sets a fast pace- he frowns at her.

"What's the deal? I've got Chemistry right now. Why are you even at this school?" He says in annoyance.

She flips open an outdated cell phone and shoves it in his face, displaying a blinking red dot on a map of Karakura Town. "This is. It's part of my duty as a Shinigami to hunt down Hollows, but your energy reacted negatively with mine when I had to introduce you to what we call Shadow Movement- it's a standard Shinigami ability that you can only understand and use upon getting really close to dying. Basically, my power's very weak right now and it's forgotten how to perform Shadow Movement- oh, don't give me that look." Rukia scolds him upon noticing the dubious expression on her victim's face.

"Shadow Movement's in a class of yokai abilities that can't be used unless your power itself- some people say your soul- knows the way to form it and adjust accordingly. It's one of five in the class that can be used by everyone, not just individuals- Kido, Zanjutsu, Hoho, and Hakuda are the other four. Knowing how it works in your head isn't enough to do it, but if you're using a catalyst called a gigai to be visible to the other 99% of people or, in your case, you haven't met death, so to speak, you need help. That's where I come in." The slender girl pulls out a flaming-skull-patterned glove from her pocket and abruptly thrusts her hand up, catching Ichigo on the jaw.

The sensation that comes next is something like a particularly violent shiver. It takes a good deal of self-control to keep his form through the pins-and-needles sensation that whites out- more like greys out, actually- Ichigo's senses. The comparable feeling is probably being suddenly put on a rollercoaster and going through a loop, except you're blind and deaf. When the orange-haired yokai can see straight again, he's standing next to his own body, clad in the same weird catsuit he remembers from last night.

The first thing he has to do, looking down at a body that looks just like him only completely still, is stifle his gag reflex. It looks practically dead, though there's a faint rise and fall of its chest that makes Ichigo release a sigh of relief before he remembers to be indignant.

"Hey! What's the big idea? Why is my body lying on the ground?" The teen complains, glaring at Rukia.

Violet eyes glare back at him. "Because you haven't died or come close to it the way a Shinigami has, so your body hasn't altered itself correspondingly. And you're too stupid to understand Shadow Movement. I know how, and this glove here basically lets me force you into astrally projecting. You've got the power, I have the experience."

"So 'cause I'm not a Shinigami, you have to knock my mind out of my body and make a clone that's invisible." Ichigo grumbles, crossing black-clad arms. "And I'm not stupid. You're forgetting I'm one of the top fifty scorers in this school." He picks at the little rings covering his arms and squeaks when they release a small spark. "What's up with this ninja outfit? And the sword? Who the hell's got enough skill with a sword to practically use one now?"

"It's a soul construct– I don't know how to modify it, so too bad–, it's the only kind of weapon that the government'll let super-powered yokai have, and believe me when I say that any Shinigami worth their salt is more than good enough to use a sword as a practical weapon. Besides, it's too much to focus on in combat to extend Shadow Movement on bullets after they're fired." Rukia glances at her cell phone, alarmed. "We've spent too much time talking. Ichigo, come on. There's another Hollow."

Before he can protest and say he has school, the orange-haired teen realizes that A) he has no idea how to get back into his body and B) _someone _needs to take care of that Hollow, and if Rukia's as weak as she says he is, that falls to him. Dammit. So much for being a normal high school student. At least he can excuse it to himself as it being a potential danger to his sisters and friends.

So Ichigo sprints after the tiny devil who's changed his life and holds back far less on the yokai speed than normal. Rukia isn't all that fast a runner when he isn't habitually dialing down his innate abilities, and she's kinda the only way he can find the Hollow, so not-quite-full-but-faster-than-normal running it is.

There's no Hollow when they get there, but there is a small boy with a thin chain jangling on his chest cheerily sitting on the swings.

"Eh? What's up with him?" Ichigo murmurs to his companion.

"He's a Plus, energies of death taking on the form, memories, and personality of the human who generated them. Not truly the little boy, but he _is _sentient and it's part of your job to protect him," She replies.

"So quick to give your job up?" The orange-haired teen jibes. "So where's the Hollow? If I've got to do this, I don't want to just stand around all the time. I'm only in it for my sisters anyway."

"Coming, that's where. Shut up and stay alert. If you don't manage to do this now, you aren't worthy of being called any sort of protector. You'll have let someone die." Despite the fact that Rukia's scanning the playground, and not looking at him at all, Ichigo is taken aback by the intensely accusatory tone in her voice. No, not accusatory. Bitter, the kind of tone only someone who'd made that very mistake would use.

Soon enough, the air above the merry-go-round twists, and Ichigo nearly throws up at the sudden fear-pressure that it exudes. _Fight past it, Kurosaki. It's just another fight. The stakes are higher, and the opponent's stronger, but so are you. _He seizes the massive blade on his back and draws it, surprised at the lightness.

This Hollow's more generic, looking something like a very large, grey-skinned, masked horse-dog cross. _Time to move._

The orange-haired teen charges unthinkingly, lunging for its chest and slicing upwards. He makes a mental note to thank Isshin for teaching him kendo a few years back. A raised arm swings out, catching Ichigo pretty much in the body and sending him flying across the playground. His feet scramble for a hold on something, anything, and suddenly he finds himself standing in thin air that feels suspiciously solid.

Ichigo blinks down at his feet for a few seconds to confirm that yes, there isn't anything there, but he doesn't have any time to have fun with this new ability. Evidently psychotic monsters don't like waiting for their prey to get their bearings. The Hollow lunges forward with a shuddering roar that nearly drowns out Rukia's shouts.

"The mask! Go for the mask, idiot! That's what gives it power!"

"Why didn't you say that in the first place, shrimp?" He bellows back, dodging a swing of its powerful arm and leaping high above it to cleave the thing's skull in two. A spurt of blood narrowly misses his nose, just in time for the teen to jerk back. Somehow, the Hollow dissolves into tiny particles that fade into nothingness.

"Isn't that obvious? You did that last time, surely you'd know to do it again," Rukia replies, making her way over to him and obviously fighting to control her irritation. Ichigo makes a note of that. If you ever want to get the cute little new girl mad at you, insult her height. Should make for some fun.

"Well, we can't all be secret spy agents or whatever you are," Ichigo mumbles, though even he realizes that cutting through the Hollow's head _was _a rather obvious course of action.

"Shinigami, idiot. Legally speaking, Shinigami are dead. Not even people who exist." She gives him a sidelong glance. "That's where the term comes from, you know. Nobody likes to think that a government agency is composed of people who know what it means to die, so that's the official line they give us."

He blinks. "Oh. Well, what now? I don't want to have to owe Tatsuki or Mizuiro even more for telling me the homework."

"Now," Rukia says briskly, "you're going to perform Konso. Don't worry, I'm sure even you can't mess it up. Just tap the hilt of your sword– I hesitate to call it a Zanpakuto– against that Plus's forehead and his energy can be returned to the world. If he is meant for such, he will be reborn in Soul Society as a yokai."

"Wait, you're saying reincarnation is real? You're not just Buddhist or Hindu or whatever?" Ichigo asks skeptically.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. After death, almost all power inherent in living things—let's call it souls— goes somewhere and reincarnates. Some that haven't decided how they feel about death become Pluses. If they're strong enough and tormented enough—say by staying too long—they gain material forms as Hollows. Pluses return the energy they use to form their body to the world around them when purified and those who become yokai pass on through a Shinigami's help to Soul Society, where they live and work." Slender shoulders lift in a shrug."

He snorts. "Glorified ghettos, I bet."

"How very cynical of you," Rukia comments, but her tone is sad. "Just get it over with."

Ichigo sighs, walking over to the little boy, who stares up at him in awe.

"Cool! You took your sword and went swish swish and then the monster hit you and I thought you were gonna die but you didn't and then you killed it!" He says happily, making motions in the air with both hands as if gripping a sword's hilt.

"Yeah, yeah, kid. C'mon, stay still. It won't hurt at all. I think." The orange-haired teen awkwardly taps the hilt of his sword to the kid's forehead, making the resulting silvery kanji half on his bangs and half on his forehead.

The boy smiles almost euphorically as his body begins to glow brilliant silver-blue and fades away like smoke. Simple as that. No fanfare, no reward. It couldn't have taken much more than fifteen minutes. A little disappointing, really.

After that, the two head back to Ichigo's body, with the teen figuring out after trial and error that re-entering his body is best done by straddling it and barely touching the tip of his sword to its chest. It? He? Gendered pronouns have suddenly become so much more confusing.

Ichigo scrambles back to his feet, shaking out tanned limbs that feel for all the world as if he's just woken up from a nap or something.

"Nice work, Substitute Shinigami." Rukia says grudgingly. "I'll come find you whenever your services are needed. Oh, and I thought I should tell you– since you're the cause of my inability to return to Soul Society for now, I'll be staying in your closet."

Before Ichigo can so much as protest, she's vanished into a nearby classroom, leaving the yokai teen to head to Chemistry and barely arrive in time to jot down the homework on a piece of scrap paper. Terrific. Now he has to manage the headache of having a not-quite-human stranger in his house, an admittedly pretty girl on top of that.

Could he get any more problems stacked on his plate?

A casual glance across the classroom that happens to spot a large reddish handprint on Inoue Orihime's leg suggests yes.

* * *

_For the record, I'm just going to go and say that Keigo's secretly a genius and Mizuho's always trying to get him to use his brains in school and show people what he can do. Why? Because I can. And sorry if I seem to be writing IchiRuki; lacking the funds or libraries to get a hold of any volumes past the 15th one means that I watch the anime and they just love to eliminate IchiHime, ship IchiRuki very hard, and add in a lot of slash moments. And I'm also well aware how confusing my attempt to AU-ize reincarnation and ghosts and such is. Soul Society's something of a place where yokai-blooded humans, relatives of those who work with Shinigami, those who work with Shinigami and don't live for whatever reason outside of Soul Society, regular yokai and Shinigami-class yokai live._


	4. Sorrow to Hope

_*cackles* Powers for Tatsuki it is. Later, though! We've still got re-interpreted canon to go through!_

* * *

Ichigo suppresses a groan, putting his head in his hands for a few seconds before having to raise it as Kagurazaki-sensei calls on him.

"Kurosaki, if you wouldn't mind not sleeping in class..." She says wearily. "Now, what's the next step in the process?" His Chemistry teacher gestures to the blackboard, where equations and models are drawn, some better than others.

Ichigo rattles it off after scanning the setup quickly, utterly baffled for a few seconds before it clicks. Thank God for studying and natural intelligence, because she looks satisfied and goes back to the lesson immediately after, leaving the orange-haired teen to continue to stare at Orihime's legs. He tells himself that it's completely because that kind of injury doesn't just randomly turn up on a person.

When the final bell rings, Ichigo surges to his feet, nearly knocking over his chair in the process. No way in hell is he staying here longer than he has to, especially with the propensity of local delinquents towards ambushing him. In the hallway, Ichigo glances around a few times before finding his intended prey and shoving his way through the crowd to find her.

"Hey, Tatsuki," He grabs her by the shoulder. "How'd Inoue get that mark on her leg?"

The spiky-haired tomboy scowls and shakes him off. "What's with you? Normally you're oblivious to everything that goes on with pretty girls." Well, seeing as Ichigo'd probably never have a very open relationship with any of them, if they looked past his delinquent's appearance at all, he _does _make an effort to ignore his female classmates. Doesn't mean the orange-haired teen is ignorant of their charms, though, and he frowns sharply at her.

"I'm not asking 'cause I want to ask her out or something, idiot! Shouldn't you be happy that I'm not being a dick and ignoring something that obviously hurts, Dragon Girl?" Ichigo scoffs. "Figured you'd know since she's your best friend and all."

"Stop calling me that, moron!" Tatsuki snaps, whacking him in the chest. Calming down, she adds, "I don't know the details, but Orihime told me she was crossing the street the other day after getting groceries and nearly got hit by a car. Somehow she managed to get that weird handprint on her leg– said somethin' about feeling like someone pulled her out of the way."

Ichigo frowns in worry. "Yokai..." He mutters. Should've known it had something to do with Rukia. What else would happen?

Apparently Tatsuki heard him, because Orihime's defender raises an eyebrow at him. "Yokai? Like hell one of 'em'd save Orihime. Besides, I think even she'd notice if someone else was around."

Ichigo can't stop himself from glancing away awkwardly upon Tatsuki's inadvertent insulting of him, and turns on his heel to hide the slightly uncomfortable expression on his face. "Yeah, whatever. Thanks anyway." The orange-haired teen walks away without another word, and if his strides are a little stiffer and faster than normal, he doesn't realize it.

"What's your deal?" The martial artist grumbles behind him.

Ichigo's about halfway home when he's ambushed by Rukia, going the opposite way.

"Ichigo! There you are! Honestly, it's such a pain to track you down. If a Hollow attacked, there wouldn't be time for me to find you," She says in annoyance. "I've walked this street twice already."

He snorts. "Yeah, sorry. I stopped to ask Tatsuki about the weird mark on Inoue's leg."

Thankfully, Rukia doesn't make a crack about him 'finally' noticing the pretty schoolgirl. "Mark? Oh, yes. The handprint on her leg no doubt comes from a Hollow. You'll have to take care of it if it's still around." Her violet eyes narrow in a frown. "However, judging from your performance today, you'll need basic training first."

The orange-haired yokai scowls at her. "I don't _need _training. My old man's taught me all my life to fight and I've got your Shinigami powers, don't I? Power enough for me. Power enough for that Hollow today." His stomach turns at the thought of that monster's screech as it bore down on the ghost thing. Plus, that was it.

Rukia reaches up to grab his collar and pull him down to her level. "Listen to me. That was a very weak Hollow. You barely defeated it. You aren't strong enough for once, face it. Your father's human. The morons you fight at school are human. Hollows aren't, and you. Will. Die. That's if you don't train to get stronger. You had some innate power that obliterated mine and copied it. You don't have my power, you have power like mine."

Ichigo's eyes involuntarily widen. As much as he hates to admit it, the midget's right, and there's no getting out of it. "...Fine. Lead the way, short stuff."

Fifteen minutes later, having made a hasty call to his father with the excuse of studying with Keigo and nursing a bruise on his left cheek, Ichigo's staring at a baseball-pitching machine that Rukia's somehow managed to commandeer for her purposes. After running through a few kendo stances and motions, she sticks a baseball bat in his hands and lets him go to work. Even with yokai eyesight, the orange-haired teen can barely tell the drawings that represent Hollows from the ones that represent Wholes– a term that apparently refers to all non-Hollow beings.

Consequently, Ichigo ends up refining his kendo techniques without learning any ability to tell the difference between his tormentor's drawings. When Rukia chews him out, he protests rather loudly that "It's not like it's hard to tell the difference between a hulking masked monster and a person!" Unable to argue with that, she starts arguing that he should've at least attempted to follow directions. Fight-picking idiot.

Just when Ichigo's starting to pray for anything to interrupt her tirade, he gets his wish in the form of Rukia's phone going off, announcing the presence of another Hollow.

"Oh, you have _got _to be kidding me. I'm new at this!" He complains, smacking himself in the forehead. "D'you–Aagh!"

The slender Shinigami smacks him in the jaw, transforming him into a Shinigami again.

"Help me get your body out of sight before we go off hunting the disproportionate number of Hollows this town attracts, moron." She growls, trying valiantly to tug his body away. Ichigo helps her, dragging his prone body into a nearby tool shed and making a mental note of the place for the future.

"Alright, lead the way," He grumbles, and the two dash off to their target's location.

* * *

"I dunno, 'Hime, I'm pretty sure something's up with Ichigo. He's not just grouchy all the time for the fun of it, no matter how funny you think his face is," Tatsuki says over a bowl of beef-flavored ramen mixed with red bean paste and a heck of a lot of wasabi and leeks. Consequently, she hasn't touched it.

"Nope! I'm sure he's a really good person underneath that frown. Besides, didn't you say he was trying to make sure I was okay earlier?" The auburn-haired girl giggles, happily devouring her own bowl. Suddenly she frowns, puzzled as a teddy bear sitting on a table with a picture of her brother Sora jerks abruptly, the sound of tearing fabric coming from it. "Huh?"

Orihime scoots back from the low table and scurries over to the bear, picking it up and halfway turning it over. Brown eyes widen in alarm as blood trickles onto her hands. "B-blood? How–" Whatever she was about to say is cut off as her body is sent flying into the wall, eyes wide even as she slumps down.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki shouts, scrambling over to her friend immediately and shaking her body. "Orihime, please! Say something, idiot! Did something cut– Aah!" The black-haired girl is sent stumbling back herself, blood coursing freely from her shoulder. "Why am I bleeding?" She shrieks, picking herself up and looking around frantically for her attacker. Tatsuki only sees a large, barely-there figure looming over her, the sound of scales rasping on the ground faint in her ears.

"Come and fight me, dammit! You won't–" A crushing pressure pins the short girl to the ground, a massive handprint appearing besides her. If anyone had been looking, they would've immediately noticed the similarities between said print and the bruise on Orihime's leg.

Tatsuki releases a noise somewhere between a groan and a scream. The world shudders around her, and the blur solidifies slightly until she can make out the shape of the upper half of a man's body above her. Fighting back is another story, and for once every technique Tatsuki knows can't help her. Kicks and punches make no difference when you can't move.

Suddenly one of the creature's arms gives out, bending at the elbow as a vague haze that somehow screams 'Orihime' slams into it. Tatsuki can only stare as she feels a breeze touch her face, feeling like that someone is trying to tell her something but it's just barely too quiet for her to hear. The spiky-haired girl scrambles backwards crab-like.

"Get away!" She howls. "I'll beat any yokai who tries to hurt 'Hime or me into oblivion!" It's an empty threat, so empty that the black belt's heart aches. This is a new feeling to her, the feeling of being a paper tiger, all roar and no claws.

"Ta...an. Tatsu..chan. Tatsuki-chan!" The voice finally reaches her ears. It's Orihime's, but the auburn-haired girl is lying still across the room, a strange breeze flickering around her.

"No use, Orihime. She doesn't know, can't know, she'll never..." The voices, one sweet and familiar and the other wildly distorted and scraping, fade away as Tatsuki passes out. Too much, all too much.

Orihime stumbles to her feet, eyes widening as she sees her toes flickering as if disturbed by an intangible breeze.

"So it takes pain to even make you stir? I'm sad, Orihime! You never even tried to find out when I was alive! It takes your human friend getting hurt for your power to start to manifest!" The monster in front of her growls.

Brown eyes blink up at him, pupils shrunken slightly from fear. "How do you know my name, yokai-san? How?"

"See? You don't even recognize me in this form! Not even my voice!" It moans, leaning in and displaying long fangs. Then the thing rears back. "You make me sick, Orihime! I'm sad! You'd rather delude yourself into being human than try to know what I was!" A clawed hand lashes out at her, and Orihime flinches away, eyes shut tight on instinct.

"And here I thought I was your prey!" Suddenly Ichigo's standing in front of her, huge blade raised to defend against her attacker's strike, braced with his free hand. He slashes out, sending the Hollow reeling back with blood dripping from the cut across his red-scaled palm. Reality itself twists around him, shadows gathering to form a portal that he slides back into.

Ichigo turns in dismay as he spots Tatsuki curled up against the wall, limp and bleeding. _Tatsuki, you idiot, you had to come here and get caught in the crossfire. Probably tried to fight back, too._

Seeing his face clearly, Orihime blinks. "K-Kurosaki-kun? You're really here? How did you get here?" Ichigo isn't quite sure if she sounds happy or puzzled. Maybe both. He's certainly confused, seeing as Rukia'd said that normal humans couldn't see him when he was using the Shadow Whatever. Orihime looks too confused at this to be yokai– then she'd probably know that wasn't normal.

Then his eyes travel to her fingers, laced together as she holds her hands up in front of her chest. Threads, or maybe thin chains, that resemble elongated tornadoes wind across her extremities, turning patches of skin sky-blue where they intersect for a brief period of time. Just as quickly, the blue is reclaimed by Inoue's normal skin tone. Okay, maybe she's human, but clearly not a normal human.

"Part-yokai or somethin'?" The orange-haired teen wonders aloud. Although how on earth that would work out when it came time to do the dirty deed is utterly beyond him.

"That's right. Exposure to the energy of yokai starts to set off the process of taking on one's true form. Orihime... will become a yokai!" The world twists again above Orihime's desk, and the Hollow reappears, twisting away from Ichigo's swipe to grab his sister. The Substitute Shinigami attempts a retaliatory strike against his opponent's tail. To the dismay of all involved, save the intended victim, it does nothing, and the slate-grey tail slams into Ichigo's chest, flinging him bodily through the window.

The orange-haired yokai thanks whoever the gods of memory and reflex are when he scrabbles for somewhere to stand and summons up that invisible platform again. There's about zero time to be happy, though, because the Hollow raises Orihime up with a growled 'Don't move' and knocks Ichigo to the ground with another swing of his tail while he's too shocked to do anything.

Shortly after, Ichigo is too preoccupied with staying conscious to do much of anything when his attacker vanishes into the house.

* * *

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime blurts out. "Let go! Let! Me! Go!" She writhes in her captor's grasp in vain.

"Orihime..." He murmurs, voice echoing weirdly from the bone mask that hides his face. "You really can't recognize me in this form? Don't you know me?"

The auburn-haired girl twists to the extent that she can to look up at him, searching for any answer that might free her. Something– she doesn't know what– sticks out to her in the planes and angles of the mask. Aloud, she wonders, "O-onii-chan?"

But that's impossible. Sora was human. She's human. He can't be yokai, he was too good, too normal.

Wasn't he?

* * *

"...go! Ichigo! Get up!" Rukia demands. "Get up, fool!"

"What's wrong with you?" He grumbles, fighting through the throbbing pain as it starts to ebb away. "Who even _says _fool these days?"

"Me, when you deserve it!" The violet-eyed girl retorts. "Where're you hurt?"

"Nowhere." _Everywhere. _

"Good," She replies. "Then know this: even if that naga was Orihime's brother, _was _is the operative word there. He's been corrupted into a monster now. Nothing of Inoue Sora's heart remains. End it quickly."

* * *

Orihime stares up at her brother. "Onii-chan? This is really you?" She asks in wonder, in terror.

"Yes," Comes the response. "This is me now." If regret tinges Sora's words, it's hard to tell with the echoes that his mask creates.

"That-that's impossible. My brother didn't look like a monster." The brown-eyed girl shakes her head suddenly. "No. My brother wouldn't do something like this, no matter how he looked."

"I was lonely," He whispers. "When I first brought you here, that's when it started. Little things at first. My eyes, my teeth, my fingernails. Changing suddenly. There wasn't anyone else like that, and I wanted to give you a normal childhood. A good childhood. So I hid that side of myself from you. Maybe not as well as I could have. Maybe I wanted you to know." His eyelids droop beneath the mask. "It was lonely, so lonely being the only one like that. Not even my family. Then when I could see you coming to my bedside after the accident, I knew you weren't even trying to see that. You came every day, and I could see how sad you were, but you never tried to look beyond it and really care."

"But at least you came. Praying for me to get better, Orihime, that's all that kept me human. Then you met that karate brat." His voice breaks. "You stopped coming as often. And when you did, you'd always bring _her. _Then they buried me. When you entered high school, you didn't come and pray at all. It was so lonely!" The Hollow cries._  
_

"No, y-you're wrong!" She bursts out. He has to be wrong... was she really like that?

"Listen to me for once, Orihime! Stop betraying me for these humans! Become a yokai and we can be together again! I-I can kill this Shinigami and this'll all end." Sora snaps, releasing her and twisting around to resume his slaughter of Ichigo.

"Wait! Leave Kurosaki-kun out of this! He's human, he doesn't have to be hurt. You don't have to hurt him anymore, onii-chan," She insists.

He whirls on her. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! This is all your fault! I wouldn't be like this if it weren't for you! Listen!" He seizes her body. "Otherwise, I might have to kill you first!"

"You won't kill anyone!" Ichigo's desperate shout comes from behind as he plunges his sword into the Hollow's tail, over and over again. Sora rears back, shrieking in pain and dropping Orihime to the ground. His tail lashes out at Ichigo, who manages to dodge it as the naga reaches out to grab his sister and flee. With a slice of the blade, Sora's hand is severed, blood spattering the ground as he shrieks and clutches the bloody stump.

The orange-haired yokai takes the opportunity to kneel by his classmate, who coughs and twitches as her body spasms. A quick once-over tells him that she's going to be okay, even better if Rukia can use whatever powers she used to heal his family. Rising, he turns to Sora with grim determination written on his face.

"Listen to _me, _nutjob. Don't you know why older brothers get born first? They're supposed to protect those who come after." Ichigo answers his own question. "Meaning they don't get to just tell their little sisters that they're going to kill them." He raises his blade, gripping it tightly. "Even if it costs you your own life, you don't get that right!"

"Shut up, you little freak! Orihime, she belongs to the yokai, not the humans! I always protected her, I always did ever since I brought her to Karakura when she was just a little girl. She-she owes me for hurting me like this. Orihime! Come here. Come to me." Sora extends a claw-tipped hand. "If you come to me, I won't hurt the humans. Just you and me again."

"No! It's a trap. Regardless of his form, your brother's been corrupted. His heart isn't that of the man you knew," Rukia says sharply from behind Orihime.

"But..." The auburn-haired girl looks lost, heartbroken as she's caught between following her brother's orders, warped though he is, and obeying the warnings of someone who for all intents and purposes is a stranger. Frantically, Orihime brushes hair from behind her ears, exposing the star-blue hairpins there.

Sora jerks, eyes going wide behind the red lenses that shield them. Though no one else can tell, memories flash through his head. Orihime, running towards him and calling his name as a toddler. Orihime, going off to her first year of elementary school, then a few years later. Orihime, dressed up neatly and proud as she stands with him at a graduation ceremony. Orihime dashing towards him, already starting to blossom into her current figure. The two of them hugging, then Orihime showing off her new school uniform.

He chokes on the bile that fills his throat as he realizes what he's tried to do as the lenses grow translucent. The massive naga whirls, smashing his face into the wall repeatedly. _Break, break, why won't you just break! _But as soon as he pulls back, the anger's only managed to strengthen the transformation, and Sora draws a deep, rattling breath.

"Orihime belongs to the yokai! Not the humans! She belongs to me!" He screeches, lunging for Ichigo with his jaws open wide. Blade shaking from the strain, the orange-haired teen blocks the strike, hissing between gritted teeth,

"Inoue is human! She belongs to no one but herself. And stop calling _me_ human, dammit!" Ichigo shoves the Hollow back, who flees from the house to gather his wits. The Substitute Shinigami leaps out after him with a yell, raising his sword to strike.

The logical part of Ichigo knows he should just do it. The emotional part of him knows the same. It's the part of him that saw a man lying broken and bleeding on a stretcher one night that hesitates, the part of him that ran sobbing back into the house because he knew he could do that to a person. That part of him looks at the masked monster beneath and thinks for a brief second that he's just like Sora and he can't kill him.

For his troubles, Ichigo receives acid spit to the hands, making him drop his sword with a howl of pain. Sora's tail slams into his back, sending the teen smashing into the ground. He stands up, fumbling for his sword, but it's too late _toolatetoolatetoolatehe'sgoingtodie. _Amber eyes are squeezed shut in preparation for the fatal wound.

Except it doesn't come. Only the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bone reaches Ichigo's ears.

* * *

Blue-tinged fingers are wrapped tightly around a scaled neck as a sobbing schoolgirl clings to her brother. Orihime's skin almost glows compared to Sora's dark scales. Tiny and fair against her brother's massive, shadowy body, she looks more like a splash of color than a person.

Ichigo stares at the pair in horror, blood stinging his eyes, which have started to pale to yellow. There isn't a single question he can ask to explain this. There aren't any answers that would calm his racing heart.

"Inoue..." He breathes.

She sinks to her knees as the jaws of Sora's mask release his sister, who continues to cling to him fiercely.

"Orihime..." His tortured groans hiss from a slender-fanged mouth, every word made difficult by a body that isn't designed to speak Japanese, or really any human language. The lenses are completely transparent now, exposing slitted slate-grey eyes that gleam in the darkness.

"I'm so sorry, onii-chan," Orihime whispers, dwarfed by Sora many times over. "You were right. It's my fault. I told you not to leave me alone that day, without ever bothering to notice how alone you felt. That's why you're so hurt now."

"I tried to act like I wasn't relying on you anymore, so you wouldn't think I was stuck in the past and you could move on. But you were always nearby, even yesterday when the car came. You pulled me out of the way, I know that now. You've always been my protector, onii-chan." Tears spill down her face, hot and bright. "I just wanted to show you that I was happy, that I had friends and I was strong. So you wouldn't worry about me."

A sound somewhere between shattering glass and crumbling stone dimly meets Ichigo and Rukia's ears as the lenses are eaten away by Sora's own tears.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize how alone you felt, so I always talked about my friends. And that made you feel even more...lonely." Finally unable to stay upright, Orihime crumples to her knees.

Sora's whole body shudders. "N-no... it's not your-your fault. Not...Aah!" The Hollow's mask starts to fade in and out as Sora screams, in agony now instead of rage.

From a safe distance away, Ichigo and Rukia stand watching.

"W-what's happening to him?" The orange-haired teen asks fearfully.

His violet-eyed tormentor is staring at the naga fixedly. "He's fighting the Hollow's impulses that are driving him to do this. He isn't a Hollow because he chose to be. Other Hollows probably forced him through the ritual," She says with a note of wonder in her voice.

In front of the two, Sora writhes in agony, clutching at his chest with his remaining hand.

"But why would anyone do that to someone?" He asks, brows locked together in a frown of worry and horror.

"Are you really such an idiot, boy? They wanted to hurt you. By forcing this man through the ritual, the powerful Hollow that did so gained a pawn. Whatever beast that did that knew you would have trouble hurting him, so they sent him after you." Rukia stares up at the masked creature above them. "What you see here is him fighting to undo that process through sheer will, for his sister. Don't think he does this lightly."

"Orihime!" Sora's strangled moans twist and shudder as the mask on his face starts to weaken. "Ori–"

A sound like tinkling glass breaks the sudden silence as it shatters completely, slivers of bone raining down onto the pavement. Sora's face is finally exposed completely, revealing a pale face framed by brick-red scales, snake-like eyes looking down at his sister with the same worry they did in life.

Orihime raises her head slightly, dark eyes glistening with tears and a faint smile crossing her face before she collapses completely, the blue tipping her fingers and toes starting to spread in earnest.

"Inoue!" Ichigo blurts out, dashing forwards.

"Stop!" Rukia commands with all the imperiousness of a princess. "She's not badly wounded, nor is her transformation very far along. It won't be too difficult for me to heal her and keep her human." She walks forward, scowling at her partner on the way. "Which I can do much better"– here she elbows him in the side "–when you aren't in my way. Back off." The petite Shinigami kneels by her new classmate's side, placing her hands on the gouges in Orihime's shoulders and whispering beneath her breath. A soft green-blue light surrounds her hands, and they begin to fade, blue receding and finally vanishing. Orihime's hairpins gleam beneath the streetlight, catching Ichigo's eye.

"I heard those were a present from you." The orange-haired teen says quietly as Sora falls face-first to the ground, distorted body shifting back into a more normally-sized naga's form. Orihime's brother shoves himself more or less into a position he can keep eye contact from. "Inoue told me that. It's why she wears 'em every day, rain or shine.

Sora nods slightly, face sad. With effort he manages to get himself mostly into an upright position, making use of his tail to sweep Ichigo's sword closer to him. Hands shaking, the naga picks it up and holds it in front of his face.

Ichigo blinks, mildly stunned. "Hey! What're you–"

"If I don't do this, I'll become a monster again sooner or later. Wh-while I can still think straight..." Sora doesn't finish his sentence, opting to shift his grip on the blade and point it directly at his throat.

"What? Don't–" He exclaims.

"Stupid." Rukia says from her place by Orihime's side. "This is the right choice for him. It's impossible to completely return to normal, whatever that may be, after becoming a Hollow. Let Orihime's brother do what he wants while he has that choice."

"But–"

Ichigo's cut off again by Rukia. "But nothing. Hollows aren't killed when you defeat them. You're simply purifying them of the corrupt energy and sending them to Soul Society so they start over. That's the true reason Shinigami exist."

The orange-haired yokai glances back to Sora uncertainly. The naga nods at him, moving the sword's tip closer to his throat and closing his eyes in preparation for the deed.

"W-wait, onii-chan." Orihime says weakly, turning her head to look at him. Sora's eyes widen, startled. "When you bought me these hairpins that day, I thought they were childish and tried to fight with you. I was too stubborn to say anything when you went off to work. I didn't know it, but that was our last goodbye, wasn't it? J-just let me say it right this time." The auburn-haired girl levers herself into a sitting position, steadied by Rukia. A small smile graces her face, more genuine than any wide grin could ever be. "Onii-chan, see you later."

Sora smiles, lips pulling back to show almost-delicate fangs. "Yeah, see you later." With that, he closes his eyes for the last time and plunges Ichigo's sword through his chest. Immediately, Sora's body dissolves into light as blue as his sister's hairpins, the blade clattering to the ground.

Orihime turns to Rukia, still kneeling solemnly beside her, and begins to sob as she could never let herself do before.

* * *

"Really, really! This big Sumo champion guy came to my house last night and exploded it with a bazooka! Bang bang!" Orihime waves her hands wildly in the air.

Mahana sighs and frowns at her. "I get it if you're having weird dreams. with the stuff you eat, Orihime, but if you're trying to convince us that really happened, try something more realistic. Like, say, pro-wrestlers having a grudge match or something," She scoffs.

Chizuru winks slyly. "_I _appreciate that beautiful mind of yours, princess-mine."

"But it really happened! Don't you remember, Tatsuki-chan?" Orihime exclaims, looking to her no-nonsense friend for support.

"Yeah..." The spiky-haired martial artist says uncomfortably, hoping against hope that this won't ruin her 'takes-no-shit' reputation.

"What? You're really trying to sell us the same story, Arisawa? Here I thought you were the realistic one," Mahana teases.

Across the roof, Ichigo and Rukia stare, utterly baffled, at the lunch group.

"_This _is what you did last night?" He asks, somewhere between horror and amusement as he recalls Rukia's bizarre gadget, used on Orihime the night before. "I knew it'd be random, but not this random!" The teen turns, looking out over Karakura Town. "Did you use that on my family, too?"

Rukia nods, then remembers he can't see her do it. "Yep. Works like a charm."

A few seconds of silence hang between them. "What's eating you?" She asks.

"I... don't know how 'prepared' I am to fight Hollows and stuff. The things are _freaky. _I don't want to be some kind of hero of justice or whatever, either. But I can't really stand by and watch people get hurt. I guess I'll work with you, then." Ichigo turns and sticks out his hand. "Deal, Death Girl?"

Rukia ignores his nickname, looking up and smiling slightly. "As if you ever had a choice."

* * *

_So there you have it. Orihime's yokai blood started to stir in this episode, but Rukia was able to get her back to normal for now. Shall we see what form she ends up taking?_


	5. Strength to Weakness

_Sheesh. If I was more creative, I'd just write this as an AU without following canon at all, but I like canon just enough (and despair for my plot-creating abilities enough) that I'm basing it off canon. Poor Sora. I really liked writing that chapter, while being very sad about his fate. His form was convenient for my story. Well, ad-libbing (or the literary version of it) it is for this installment!_

* * *

The next day, Ichigo arrives at school to find a familiar face missing. Much to his disbelief, Chad isn't in homeroom. He thinks to himself that he and the giant teen must be the most responsible delinquents in history. It's unusual that they're absent, and both maintain good grades. Which makes it a little bit odd that every teacher but Ochi-sensei jumps down his throat at the slightest opportunity. Appearances and all that.

"Eh? Yasutora's missing for once?" The famously casual teacher asks when he goes to tell her before roll call.

"Yeah, he didn't mention feeling sick or anything the other day. Maybe something happened at his band's gig," The orange-haired teen replies.

She shrugs. "Doesn't matter much to me as long as he makes the work up later. Hope it's not another fight, though. You two are the most belligerent students I've ever had."

Ichigo scowls. "I try not to, y'know. Nobody ever gives me credit for that," He says, not caring much if he's being rude to his teacher. She's fairly good about that kind of stuff anyway.

"Maybe if you finally lost, all those thugs would stop thinking they need to prove themselves or avenge their friends' honor by beating you up," Ochi-sensei retorts. "Go sit down, Kurosaki. I can't delay roll call any longer."

He complies, feeling the absence of Chad tremendously. You never think you'll miss someone when they're there every day, but as soon as they're gone, it's like having a missing tooth: you can't help but notice their absence.

At lunch, Ichigo walks over to Rukia, acting as casually as he would with any of his normal friends.

"Yo. Hey, my injuries from the fight with Sora healed awful fast. You have a hand in that?" He asks.

"Of course. I had the best grades in Kido in my entire class," The slender girl boasts.

"Is there a school for you people?" Ichigo says, turning to her with a surprised expression.

"Something like that. Closer to a training program, really," Rukia answers. "Now, Ichigo, it's been a while since I've been around civilians. Help me work this box thing."

"You've got to be kidding me!" He exclaims incredulously, forgetting to keep his voice low to minimize eavesdropping. "Fine. Give it here, woman." The orange-haired yokai says when she gives him a death glare, showing her how to unwrap the straw and stab it through the hole at the top. As the violet-eyed girl starts drinking, proud of herself, Mizuiro comes over. Exactly who Ichigo wanted to prevent from overhearing the conversation.

"You know, Ichigo, it seems like you hang out a lot more with Kuchiki-san than one might think for just giving her directions," The dark-haired teen comments, smiling deviously.

"Ah, shut it," Ichigo grumbles. "The girl needs help; I give her help. Simple as that."

"Mmm, well, people might just think you're a couple. Rumors are already starting to spread," Mizuiro says slyly. He's probably the source of the rumors, damn him.

"Like I said, shut up." The orange-haired 'delinquent' snaps, sneaking a glance at Rukia, who's thankfully occupied by the miracle of the straw and therefore not likely to fry Mizuiro. "If I really cared, I would've dyed my hair a while ago."

"True enough," The resident Casanova replies, following his glance. "Oh, Kuchiki-san. how're you doing? I'm Kojima Mizuiro– we've got homeroom. gym, and English together."

Rukia looks up, and Ichigo can practically see her stepping into the rule of goody-two-shoes transfer student again. "Oh, hello, Kojima-san! How do you do?" She even curtsies, a flush of vicarious embarrassment flooding Ichigo.

"Hey, Rukia, stay away from this kid. He's almost as lecherous as Chizuru– y'know, that girl with the red hair who's always trying to grope Orihime," He interjects.

"Aww, Ichigo, don't be like that. You're so mean to me," Mizuiro puts on a pout that almost—almost— fools Ichigo. "You know I'm only interested in older ladies, anyway."

"Like I said, Rukia, stay away from him," The Substitute Shinigami says. If his brief vision of what he's pretty sure was Rukia's death is anything to go by, she was last counted among the living quite a while ago.

The brief confusion that appears on Mizuiro's is completely worth it. Luckily for Ichigo and Rukia, Keigo wanders over, saving them from having to explain.

"Oh, if it isn't the hot transfer student!" He grins.

"Yes, Ichigo's snatched her up," Mizuiro explains.

"What? Hey!" The orange-haired teen exclaims.

"Aww..." Keigo murmurs, then perks up again. "Great job, Ichigo! Finally taking an interest in the ladies! Pay up, Mizuiro." He directs this last comment to his dark-haired friend, then turns back to Ichigo. "We had a bet going. He bet you were asexual or gay, I was holding out for bisexual or straight."

"_Would you people stop saying that?!_" He bursts out, irritated that his friends were gambling on his sexuality. "Stop making a big deal of it! We're acquaintances, that's all!"

"Mm." The neurotic boy mumbles evasively before changing the subject. "I don't believe I've introduced myself to you properly, my dear Kuchiki-san. I'm Asano Keigo." He smiles broadly.

"Nice to meet you, Asano-san," Rukia says politely.

Keigo's smile widens further. "Great! We can have a lunch party! Right here, right now!" He twirls whimsically. "If you need anything at all, I'll be here for you, okay? Lunch parties included!"

"Great!" The Shinigami chirps. "Can you help me with this juice box?" She's snatched Ichigo's untouched box while he isn't looking, and holds it out.

Ichigo himself leaves the conversation and walks over to Chad, who's showed up on the roof in the merry chaos.

"Yo, Chad." He nods at the many bandages wrapped around the half-Mexican giant's body. "What's with the bandages?"

Chad shrugs. "A steel beam fell on me, and a motorcyclist ran into me." A short, concise explanation, typical of him and giving absolutely nothing away beyond that.

"What?!" Keigo exclaims. "A steel beam? Really?"

"Sheesh, Sado." Tatsuki says admiringly, having chosen to eat with them for once. "You gotta tell me your secret. If I had that kind of durability, I'd be unstoppable in competitions."

Ichigo raises an eyebrow. "What're you made of, granite? That had to hurt something awful."

Keigo suddenly dashes over, bending down to examine something the orange-haired teen hadn't noticed his friend was holding. It's a birdcage, a small cockatiel sitting inside peacefully. "Never mind that. Where'd you get the bird?"

Suddenly the bird raises its head, looking up at Keigo. "Hi!" It says in a young voice. "I'm Shibata Yuichi. Who're you?"

Even if the talking hadn't been unusual, both Ichigo and Rukia notice the odd energy signature coming off of the parakeet. The two exchange glances briefly. Keigo is utterly oblivious to this, as he's begun to chat up the little bird happily.

"Hey, you didn't answer the question," The orange-haired teen says abruptly. He's got to know if there are yokai involved in this or if it's just his own paranoia. "Where'd you get the parakeet?"

"A friend of mine gave it to me." Chad answers, unfazed by Keigo's seeming lack of concern. It's more of a sign that the energetic boy has faith in his friends to be able to bypass any obstacle, including dangerous events like this, than not caring.

"Aww, c'mon, man," The brown-haired teen whines. "You're cutting your story short again. There's gotta be more to it than that!"

The massive boy shrugs again, taking a seat on the ground. Keigo copies his lead, and Mizuiro does the same by Tatsuki. Ichigo takes advantage of the fact that Keigo's chatter is noisy and distracting and leans towards Rukia as they walk over slowly.

"Hey. Something up with the bird?" He whispers.

"Yes, your senses were actually right. That isn't an ordinary bird. It feels more like an avian-type yokai, probably a young one if its skill at shape-changing isn't good enough. Though avians tend to stay close to their families, and it'd be very unusual for a whole flock to die. Or, more likely, something took advantage of a yokai-blooded child's affinity for birds and bound it into this body." She pauses, expression clearing in surprise as she concentrates. "Odd. I can't say if it's either one. Animals have a unique reiatsu signature, and it doesn't give off that aura. Still...we'll have to perform Konso tonight just in case."

"Great." Ichigo gripes. "More time out of my evening for your job."

"Complaining'll do you no good." Rukia points out. "It doesn't take all that long, anyway." She hands him the pilfered juice box, which Keigo in his excitement forgot about. Absently, the orange-haired teen opens it for her.

"Thank you. Say, how did you come to meet... Sado-san, is it?" She asks.

Ichigo shrugs as he sits down by their friends. "Kids pick on me for my hair all the time. It's nothing new. Some guys bothered me a while back and it got into a fight. They were real serious about winning. I didn't have the right amount of restraint then– at the time I was too worried about really hurting someone, other times I wouldn't use enough caution. Anyway, Chad stepped in and stopped them from hurting me more, just took hits like they were raindrops and didn't fight back at all. He does that. Never fights anyone for himself, just lets them hit him."

Rukia blinks, tilting her head at him. "How odd." She nibbles at the end of her straw. "This juice is excellent, though."

"Good to know our refreshments are up to your standards," He says sarcastically.

* * *

Later, Ichigo arrives home to find utter chaos in the Kurosaki household. A bony object slams into him, and he stumbles back to find that Karin's shoved him out of the way.

"Move, idiot!" She barks.

"What? Why? What's going on?" He demands.

"There was a big car crash, Ichi-nii," Yuzu pipes up helpfully from behind Karin. "Dad's in the other room talking on the phone." She nods her head at a half-open door.

The orange-haired teen walks over and sticks his head in the door. "Hey, Dad. Can I help?"

"No!" His father snaps, pulling away from the telephone held by his mouth and covering the mouthpiece. "Go curl up in the fetal position in your room or something!"

"Sheesh," Ichigo grumbles as he makes his way obediently upstairs, Isshin still talking on the phone behind him, "The one time I try..."

Ten minutes later, he's scrambling down the steps again, having heard his father shouting for him to get down here and help.

"Yeah, yeah, what is–" Ichigo stops abruptly as he takes in the situation. Karin and Yuzu are struggling to support a huge man, no easy feat even with Karin's remarkable strength for her size.

"Ichigo! Get to work helping this guy! He's huge!" Isshin orders him.

The orange-haired teen hurries over, grabbing hold of the man only to realize that the man would more accurately be called a teen.

"Sado?" He says in disbelief. _Did whatever's in that bird have something to do with this? _"Alright, you can let go now, guys." They step away and let Ichigo take the full brunt of his friend's weight. He has to throw a bit more strength into his muscles than usual. Normally, holding back about half his physical power is easily enough to take care of the thugs who challenge him. In this case, Chad's sheer size is enough to necessitate somewhere between half and three-quarters of his strength to make it look like he's struggling enough while still being able to carry him.

He's still carrying that birdcage, too. Ichigo catches sight of Karin glancing at the cockatiel, eyes wide. The Kurosaki family's never owned any pets, so he supposes that she's fascinated by the little bird.

The orange-haired teen helps Chad into their examining room, where Isshin carefully assists his son's friend in removing his shirt for a better look at his wounds. Much to Ichigo's dismay, a massive, clearly inhuman footprint marks Chad's back, dark reddish with purple at the edges.

"My, what a nasty wound," Yuzu frets.

Isshin nods. "Yes, it's pretty bad. Looks almost like a burn. What could've hit you? Sado-san, is it?" The dark-haired doctor begins to question Chad.

While externally Ichigo looks surprised and confused, on the inside he wears a scowl. There's a dark, predatory sensation coming off of the wound. He'd know it anywhere– it's the feeling he got when that first Hollow attacked the house, the feeling he got fighting Sora.

Isshin's busy cleaning the wound. "You'll have to take it easy if at all possible. Putting undue stress on the body might–"

"I'm sorry, but no. I'm fine now, thank you." Chad rises from the examining table, pulling on his flashy flower-patterned shirt. He begins to walk away, giving a slight nod to Ichigo in the process.

"Hey! Fine, my ass! No way you're okay after losing that much blood!" Isshin yells. Though seeing as Chad's managed to shrug off being hit by a steel girder and hit by a motorcycle with little problem, the orange-haired teen privately wonders whether he actually is okay.

The answer comes quickly as the half-Mexican highschooler suddenly pales drastically and falls face-first to the ground, showing off the bloodstain on the back of his shirt.

"Told you so." Ichigo's father grumbles. "Yuzu, Karin, go prepare a bed."

Ichigo leaves after that, heading to his room, where Rukia sits doing the homework she's received. It's heavier than what he's been assigned, actually, since they want to catch her up a bit, but she manages to do it fairly quickly.

"Rukia. You sensed it too?" He asks.

"Of course. I could sense it before he even entered the clinic." The violet-eyed girl sniffs. "Nothing off that parakeet. Off his wound's another story. It virtually reeks of a Hollow's power."

* * *

The next morning, Ichigo comes down, shaking his wrist out to regain feeling in it, to find that only Yuzu is awake and in the kitchen, a cute yellow apron on.

"Mornin', Yuzu. Seen the whites of Karin's eyes yet?" He asks.

"She's awake," The younger of the Kurosaki twins answers. "Doesn't want breakfast, though– said she wasn't feeling well. I didn't think it was worth pursuing. Karin-chan doesn't seem like she could keep it down."

The orange-haired yokai frowns. "You're kidding me. _Karin _is sick. We're thinking about the same Karin, right? About this high, black hair, has a mean kick?" He raises one hand to just below his shoulder. Yuzu nods.

"Well, guess she's gotta get sick–"

"Ichigo!" Isshin shouts, crashing into the room in a panic. "There's an emergency! You friend, whatshisname, Chad, he's escaped from his room!"

"Terrific." Ichigo grouses. "If it was just an infection or whatever, you guys coulda handled it, but no, it's got to be _my _kind of emergency. So be it." He leans over the table and seizes an apple, biting into it with a vengeance. "I'll find him."

Five minutes later, Ichigo is apple-less and charging down his street. He's stopped by the arrival of a short, closet-inhabiting Shinigami.

"Ichigo! How's the search going? Do you have the trail yet?" She blurts out, slightly out of breath.

"No. Even with my sense of smell I can't pick him up. You got it?" The orange-haired yokai asks, not expecting an answer in the affirmative.

"Nothing. Soul Society's got nothing on this Hollow, either. Nothing on the radar." She grimaces. "When Hollows aren't active, they've got this ability to warp space in such a way that they're not in this reality, similar to the wards on the main Soul Society that allow it to be so large– they displace it from space and time and effectively create another dimension. Hollows do the same on an individual basis to enter their own home, Hueco Mundo. We aren't able to detect them unless they're entering the living world." Digging around in the messenger bag slung over her shoulder, Rukia presents him with a sketchpad, apparently prepared beforehand, with her crappy drawings all over it. If she hadn't explained, he never would've known what it was demonstrating.

Had Ichigo been in an anime, he would've sweat-dropped. As it was, he settled for grumbling, "Your drawings make the comprehensible completely incomprehensible."

She whacks him in the stomach with the sketch-pad, causing the orange-haired teen to double over. "Oww. Chad's being stalked by a Hollow and you're delaying us by hitting me?" An image of the cockatiel pops into his head unbidden. "Hey! To find Chad and take care of the Hollow, we can just track the bird!"

"That's impossible," Rukia says. "It'd be better to track your friend since..."

Ichigo shuts his eyes tightly, prompting her to shut up in confusion at what he's doing. "Stupid boy, I just told you it was impossible," She mutters.

The orange-haired teen focuses, making an effort to look inwards and draw on the power Rukia gave him. That's how it works in his favorite manga, anyway, so he might as well try it. In his mind's eye, he sees a field of royal blue light, the color in stark contrast to the form in the center of it, in the exact same pose of concentration that Ichigo's in right now. It's his yokai form, naturally, tail wrapped around his ankles. Ichigo can feel himself in both forms at the same time, which is a really strange sensation.

In the real world, as he opens his eyes, Rukia's startled to briefly see the image of a white-and-red creature surrounding Ichigo, horned and clawed, utterly unlike the teen. Ichigo's eyes wink golden for a second as white ribbons flicker into existence around him. Picturing such energies as variously colored ribbons is the system that most Shinigami find easy to understand and the one the Shin'o Initiative teaches, and that idea seems to have been imprinted on Ichigo's power courtesy of Rukia.

"Got it!" He exclaims, seizing one of them as the others vanish and the creature's image disappears as well.

The two dash off, wasting no further time. Just when Rukia begins to despair for her leg muscles, a tall, dark-skinned figure bursts out from around the corner, carrying a bird cage. Chad and Ichigo's eyes lock briefly, then the former turns tail and runs off as fast as his legs can carry him.

"Chad! Dammit, Chad, get back here!" Ichigo shouts.

"Ichi...nii." A weak, feminine voice comes from behind him, and he whirls to see Karin leaning against a lamp post.

"Karin? What're you– What's wrong? You're barely standing!" He cries, and just then she sinks to her knees. The orange-haired teen dashes over.

"Ichigo!" Rukia snaps. "Get your sister home first. I'll go on ahead."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo demands frantically. "You're the one who can fix her, and I couldn't ask you to–"

"Don't complain," Rukia says curtly. "It isn't something I can heal. And your concentration would be all over the place. It's inefficient for an operative to be distracted on a mission. Move it!" She barks with the authority of a drill sergeant.

He moves to obey, but pauses as he begins to pick up Karin. "Rukia, you don't have that kind of strength. Don't be a hero. I hear that's not good for an 'operative' either."

"Moron," She replies, walking away. "I've been at this longer than you. I'd never mess up bad enough for an idiot like you to worry. Later." The violet-eyed girl darts off, a faint smile visible on her face.

"Karin! You okay? It's not like you to not know your limits," He hisses to her, pouring on the yokai speed.

"Ichi-nii..." Karin whispers back. "I saw it, I saw the memory of the boy in the cockatiel. Maybe it's because he was close to my age." She's panting with the effort it takes to speak. "His strongest memory, I saw it. His mother was murdered right in front of him." She curls into him. "Please, I'm begging you, help that boy!"

His eyes are wide. Karin never asks for help. She never begs. She doesn't cry, but she's sobbing now as she pleads with him to help the parakeet. Breath hitching in her throat, Karin gasps, "Tell...tell him he doesn't have to keep running. Tell him! Don't let him be alone anymore. Please, please."

"I'll tell him."

* * *

_Looks like I'm going in an episodic fashion! As each chapter is told from the perspective of one character and one character only, I didn't think it right to show what was going on with Chad. Review, please!_


	6. Pain to Peace

_Alright, I'll be abbreviating things after this, making changes, doing what I do best– ad-libbing at warp speed. I might skip a few things, but I'll try to mention them in passing. I've decided that the reviewer whose name I'm too lazy to check was right, and I don't have to be a boring slave to canon. I'm going to get better at writing and being creative if it kills me!_

_...Or if it kills my writing. Either way. We'll see, hmm?_

* * *

Kurosaki Karin doesn't cry. It's not that she can't, or won't, it's that she doesn't. She hasn't shed a single tear since her mother's funeral.

Prior to Masaki's death, Yuzu and Karin had no reason to mature beyond their age. They laughed freely when they played with their older brother's tail and made him squawk in surprise, and cried just as readily when he finally became fed up with them and yelled at them.

Then the center of the Kurosaki universe, the only one who could get Isshin to be serious and coax Ichigo back into a human disguise, was abruptly ripped away from them. They all handled it differently. Isshin mourned as he should've and hung a memorial poster, while Ichigo shut down and started scowling.

The twins went a different route entirely. They grew up.

Yuzu was always the sweeter, more tender one, though Karin could just as easily be bribed with candy or stuffed toys. The little blonde girl took over Masaki's duties and kept the household functioning, doing the laundry when Isshin forgot and putting away groceries even if she had to stand on a stool to do so.

Karin became a capable defender, holding the people of the Kurosaki family together and grounding them. When Yuzu neglected her homework to help out Isshin with patients, it was the black-haired twin who rapped on her head and scolded her. When Ichigo drifted further away from the world around him, she brought him back with a request for help with her left kick. When Isshin strayed from his duties as a father in favor of his goofy antics, Karin had some sarcastic comment to make to get through to him.

And while Yuzu was more sensitive and still apt to cry, Karin did her best to make sure that her sister never had to cry, and never gave in to tears from then on.

So when Ichigo sets her gently back in her bed at home, he flashes her the yellow eyes that are code for 'I'll shift forms willingly for you' and murmurs, "I promise, Karin, I'll make things right."

* * *

Rukia curses beneath her breath. The Hollow's got her by the throat.

"C'mon, Shinigami girl, transform already! It's so _boring _only preying on humans!" It taunts. "C– Agh!" It drops her with the shock of taking a punch to the cheek.

Rukia massages her throat, gasping for air as she looks up at her rescuer. "Ichi–" She starts, then frowns and stops. Not Ichigo. "Sado-san?" The yuki-onna hadn't picked up anything unusual from him earlier, save for his comparatively massive build. Can he see invisible yokai?

The answer, as it turns out, is no. Much to her bemusement, the half-Mexican teen is punching the air, not even facing the Hollow.

"Heh... just a lucky punch, human." The corrupted yokai grunts as it picks itself up.

"Not so fast." Chad says, softly but firmly, as he lands another blow on the Hollow. A small smile spreads over his features.

Rukia frowns sharply. Interesting. He must have some yokai blood in him, then, to be able to perceive the Hollow, even if through a different sense. Before the saner part of her pulls her focus back to the situation around her, the violet-eyed girl starts to run through a mental list of yokai that don't rely on sight as much. Still, it's impressive that a boy who's effectively human is trying to fight something he can't really make out.

"Moronic weaklings! All the luck in the world can't give you the strength to handle this!" It launches itself into the sky, bat-like wings fanning out as it labors to rise off the ground. "You can't get me from the air!"

Rukia tenses, settling into a battle stance and wishing she was allowed to carry a handgun. As if that would work on beasts of this caliber. "Sado-san, run!" She calls.

He blinks at her, far less troubled due to his inability to see the horror that is a Hollow. "New girl... are you involved with yokai?" Chad asks.

"Doesn't matter if we can't beat this thing now." The former Shinigami answers tersely. "It's in the air, so we can't hit it from here."

"That can be fixed." The giant responds over the Hollow's taunts, turning and with a drawn-out grunt of effort, he tears up most of a telephone pole. Rukia counts herself lucky that it was replaced recently after starting to rot. Yokai or not, electricity isn't her friend. "Where is it?" Chad asks, scanning the sky in an attempt to catch a glimpse.

"Ready...swing down!" Rukia shouts as the Hollow swoops down for another attack. He unquestioningly obeys, catching it on its back with deadly force. As soon as it's stunned, the yuki-onna charges up to it. "Give up! Someone who can deal with you properly will be here soon!"

"I don't think you get it, Shinigami. Just because you've got your fancy swords and gear, you think you're guaranteed to win. That's how I ate the Shinigami before you. The power this mask gave me is too strong for you!" Little blue creatures, translucent in the way that tells Rukia they're only constructs, leap over the walls and cling to the pair, forcing them to the ground.

"Which one of you do I eat first?" It muses. "The boy's got guts, and I can just _taste _the yokai blood that's sleeping in those veins. But oh, Shinigami are so delectable. Especially when they're pretty little girls like you." The Hollow's tone makes her skin crawl. "Yes, I'll eat you first, snowflake."

"Gyah!" Chad flexes his muscles, sending the constructs scattering around him. Maybe Ichigo's right, and the teen really is a human mountain.

"Planning on letting those big muscles of yours do the talking, foreign brat?" It demands in anger.

"Yes." The half-Mexican teen aims a solid punch at the corrupt yokai, missing by a hair and following up with a series of other blows.

"Amazing intuition! But it won't be enough!" The Hollow cackles, crouching again.

There isn't a moment to lose. Rukia isn't sure if it's about to attack or take to the sky, but she really doesn't want to be stuck here either way. "Sado-san! Kick above me– yes!" He scatters the constructs, and she clambers to her feet quickly.

This thing needs a name. Preferably one that refers to its extremely annoying voice. Like Screechy McLoud. Or Creepyvoice O'Shutup. But Soul Society would probably prefer that she log it by something more respectable, so Shrieker'll have to do. "Hey! It's in the air again!" Rukia discards her sweet, ordinary transfer student pretense. "Boy, I need you to pick me up and throw me where I tell you to! Do it!"

Five seconds later, after some fumbling, Chad's prepared to do just that. Rukia thinks as she fidgets a bit in his grasp that he feels exactly how he looks: strong and tough almost to the extreme.

"You're _sure _this will work? Seems... kinda stupid to me." He comments.

Rukia jabs an elbow into his shoulder, an annoyed expression flashing over her face. "Quiet. You have the strength, I have the power. Shoot me in... let's see. Tiger direction!" All she can think of in the heat of the moment is what the Initiative taught her, all the codes and specific terms that only a Shinigami would use taking precedence over actually making sense to the human.

"That makes no sense!" Chad snaps, adrenaline in his veins making him edgy in spite of his calm exterior.

"Left! Up and left!" She responds, mentally face-palming. Adapting to your surroundings is something she's always prided herself on, and something that Shinigami are supposed to be good at, though they often aren't. He promptly throws her with all his might at Shrieker, presumably following its voice to some degree.

"Hah!" Rukia yells triumphantly, running through the incantation for Blue Fire, Crash Down in her head. "Give up!"

"Yeah right!" Shrieker taunts, bluish mist wreathing its body and condensing into one of the creatures, which sits on its shoulder and promptly opens its mouth, projecting a burst of sickly green liquid with weird blotches of pinkish-purple in it.

Pesky gravity chooses that moment to catch up with Rukia, and she plummets to the ground as the liquid coats her, her new classmate lunging forwards and barely managing to catch her.

"New girl, you okay?" Chad asks worriedly.

"I've had worse." The violet-eyed girl says through gritted teeth. _This shouldn't hurt so much... must be because I don't have my protective aura back yet._

Rukia's eyes widen as she realizes that those pinkish-purple blotches were in fact leech-like creatures. Unlike the blue constructs, which have a slight spark of their own _reiatsu, _even less than an animal's, the leech-things have only the slimy, blood-soaked aura of their creator. She tugs at them, only succeeding in making pain bloom where the leeches are attached. They aren't coming off easily.

"Like those, snowflake? I got power over air! Flying and sound, stupid Shinigami, not just brute force like the Hollows you're used to! All I gotta do is ring my tongue and kaboom!" Shrieker crows. Its tongue lolls out of its mouth, then suddenly goes rigid, emitting a high-pitched sound that has Rukia clapping her hands over her ears to the confusion of Chad, who only feels a slight pressure in his own ears. The leeches explode, scattering their guts around and burning the skin to which they clung. She gasps in pain.

The half-Mexican teen grits his teeth. It's one thing to cause disasters that only hurt him– he has a suspicion that the source of the creepy voice is behind that– but it's another thing entirely to hurt someone else. Chad steps forward, clenching his fists to take on the monster.

"Not so fast. boy! Unless you're eager to see the brat get what he deserves?" The voice says, and suddenly Yuichi's bird cage is floating in the air, handle bent as if claws are gripping it. Chad squints, and for a second he thinks he sees a shimmering, bestial mass in front of him.

"I'm sorry for getting caught, mister. He was gonna hurt you." The little parakeet chirps, looking as sad as a bird possibly can.

"C'mon, snowflake, aren't you going to try and run?" The Hollow croons, its voice a parody of softness.

Rukia inhales sharply, getting to her feet and forcing the pain away. She has no other options but that right now, at least until Ichigo gets here. "Sado-san! Don't move or the cage will explode!" The violet-eyed Shinigami flashes him a small smile. "Don't worry. I promised I wouldn't slip up." She immediately pours on the speed as she dashes off, hotly pursued by Shrieker and its constructs.

_Ichigo, where are you?_

"Yo, Rukia!" A bare foot stomps on the Hollow's head, and the orange-haired teen in question– alright, it's closer to strawberry blond–leaps off and lands lightly in front of her. It is indeed the Substitute Shinigami, but something's off about him. Rukia looks up at him, wiping blood off of her face, and realizes that his eyes are bright gold, and his hair normally doesn't come this close to brushing his shoulders. Most unsettling is the fact that the structure of his legs and feet are slightly off, adjusted to a digitigrade stance. "Sheesh, you've really screwed it up. I thought you made a promise?"

"Moron. _You're _worried about _me__? _It's the other way around!" Rukia declares with a bravado she doesn't quite feel.

"Che. Who're you, punk?" Shrieker asks, annoyance tinging his doubled tones.

"The name's Kurosaki Ichigo! I'm the Substitute Shinigami 'round here!" He replies, lips starting to twitch into a smile.

The Hollow doesn't make any response beyond narrowed eyes, firing another round of leeches at Ichigo. Rukia hurriedly tugs on her glove and whacks him in the head, sending his Shinigami form leaping out to attack.

At that moment, Chad turns up with Yuichi's cage in his arms. "Ichigo! Is he–"

"Fine. Don't ask questions while he's fighting. Just get his body and the bird out of here. Move!" The yuki-onna orders, and after a brief moment of puzzlement, the half-Mexican teen nods and does just that.

Rukia retreats a bit to stand by Chad and Yuichi, eyes darting back and forth as Ichigo and Shrieker fight. It's hard to make out the details as the leeches explode and Ichigo causes collateral damage left and right, but she thinks she hears the orange-haired yokai shouting at the Hollow and asking if he orphaned Yuichi.

"All this is my fault." The little cockatiel says sadly. "I wanted to bring Mama back to life, and you got wrapped up in it."

Rukia's eyes widen in alarm, and she crouches by the cage. "Did someone tell you your mother could be brought back, Yuichi-kun?"

"Uh-huh. A bad man killed her, and then a yokai with his voice and a weird mask appeared and told me I could get her back if I ran for three months." Yuichi answers. "I pulled his shoelaces and made him fall by accident, so he got mad at me. He said since my mom was a pretty bird-lady sometimes, he'd make me turn into a bird and then I had to not get caught for three months. I wasn't allowed to change back." The parakeet dips his head.

Rukia's attention is drawn back to Ichigo's fight as the Substitute Shinigami swings his massive blade and deals the death blow to the Hollow. Green light spills out of the wound, and the air goes completely still as a massive door appears, two skeletons with crossed arms adorning it.

"Oh, hell." The dark-haired girl breathes.

"Rukia! Wh-what is that?" Ichigo asks in a panic, Chad asking what the problem is a moment after. She thinks for a second, dredging up all the knowledge that Soul Society taught her.

"Just what I said. Hell. It's the one thing that no one's ever been able to explain as being something other than metaphysical. Zanpakuto give souls new lives in Soul Society for a time, including Hollows, but it doesn't work on those who've committed mortal sins in their first lives. They receive only judgment, and it is not ours to give." She says grimly, answering them both.

The chains on the door shatter as it swings open, heat that threatens to turn her bones to ash pouring out and stirring up a powerful wind. Shrieker howls in desperate pain as its mask breaks up, and she glances away, grabbing Ichigo and forcing him to turn away as well.

It's official policy that you don't look at the face beneath the mask. Not just because there are some ugly faces out there, or because they think it might make you lose your resolve, though that's part of it, but because it's respectful to the person the Hollow once was.

Maybe a serial killer doesn't deserve respect. But she and Ichigo don't deserve the sight of his disgusting mug.

So they don't see the sword that impales Shrieker. Nor do they see the doors close and break into nothingness.

A solemn silence hangs in the air for a few seconds before Chad breaks it, frowning down at Rukia. Or as much as he ever frowns, anyway.

"Kuchiki-san, isn't it? Is Ichigo okay?" He asks quietly. "Is he... around here?" The giant gestures at their surroundings.

The violet-eyed girl stares at him for a couple seconds, then mentally chides herself. Some cultures do in fact have widespread belief in ghosts, and even in societies that have largely discarded superstition, there are always some who are willing to think of the supernatural as an explanation for odd happenings. She nods.

"Yes, he's fine. And just behind me, in fact." She answers, a faint smile touching her features. It can't hurt to say that, what with the extremely odd happenings. Rukia knows she should erase his memories, but it just feels wrong to even consider it. Yuichi's connection to Chad is something that he shouldn't have to forget. But as long as she doesn't directly confirm anything about the role of Shinigami in the government, or give away that she and Ichigo are yokai, it's not technically against the rules.

Chad blinks in surprise, adjusting his gaze roughly to Ichigo's height. Technically, he's looking just to the right of the orange-haired teen's head, but that doesn't matter too much.

Rukia then bends down to look at Yuichi. "Your name's Shibata Yuichi, right?"

The grateful little bird nods to the extent that his physiology allows it. "Yep!"

She flips out her Soul Pager and toggles through its database. After a few seconds, she sighs sadly. "Shibata Yuichi... no known living relatives." Her eyebrows rise. "Mother, Shibata Haneko, _tengu, _maternal grandparents from Japan and Australia. Father's name unknown, Japanese human. Explains a lot. Yuichi-kun, you said Shri- the monster didn't let you shift forms. Are you yokai yourself?"

Yuichi nods, dropping his eyes. "Mama said I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. She said it was important to fit in and she loved me but she wished I was human like my daddy was 'cause it'd be easier for me that way." He brightens. "But you're real nice, so it's okay!"

Rukia smiles at him. "Thank you. Yuichi, can you hold still for a second?" He does, and she runs threads of her meager power through him, just like she would as a basic diagnostic scan for healing Kido.

"Yuichi, I know this might be a little hard to hear, but the bad man tried to make sure you couldn't change forms to run away by doing something to you when you went into this animal-like form. You've stayed this way for so long that I can't help you. You'd just hurt yourself trying to stay in human form for longer than a few minutes." She tells him. "It-it'd be better for you to go to this place I know called Soul Society. There's no danger of people like the man who killed your mother and nobody'll get hurt by him anymore. They won't let you go hungry, either." Okay, that's partly because the concentration of energies, natural and yokai, pretty much removes that need, but if he turns out to need food, they'll feed him too. Probably.

Yuichi looks crestfallen at that.

"Hey, kid. Your mom's dead, right? I know how that feels, but you've got to move on. Start a new life for yourself in Soul Society, like she'd want," Ichigo puts in, managing one of his rare genuine smiles for the parakeet.

Yuichi looks up hopefully. "You think so?" At the yokai teen's nod, his eyes brighten. "I-I'll go!" He chirps, turning to Chad. "Thanks for carrying me around, mister! You kept me safe when that bad guy was hunting me!"

The massive teen smiles slightly at him, akin to a broad grin for him. "No problem." Chad kneels, unlatching the birdcage's door, which swings open to let the little yokai boy flutter out onto the pavement.

As soon as his claws hit the concrete, yellow-grey feathers start to smooth into sun-kissed skin. The parakeet's body grows, wings narrowing into arms and his beak softening into a human mouth. Instead of the cockatiel's crest, Yuichi's head is covered in messy brown hair. In the space of a few moments, Yuichi the parakeet becomes Yuichi the human kid, briefly pausing in a form resembling an anthropomorphic cockatiel.

When Yuichi settles in human form, he immediately throws his arms around Chad's legs, the only part of him that he can actually reach.

"Yuichi, if I ever find myself in Soul Society, I'd like to carry you and run around again." Chad says softly.

Shrieker's former victim looks up at him, chin smushed against the half-Mexican boy's pant leg. "Yeah! Mister, can I go now?" He twists around with distinctly bird-like flexibility to look at Ichigo. A slightly stricken look crosses the orange-haired teen's face, but he hides it quickly. "Yeah, c'mere."

Yuichi trots over, tilting his face up towards the Substitute Shinigami, who crouches down a little, frowning in concentration, and taps the hilt of his sword onto Yuichi's forehead. Silver kanji shine briefly, the boy's face going ashen as his energy is drained, murky violet light spiraling off his body. Ichigo yelps as some of the black material covering the back of his right hand peels off into little motes of ash. It condenses into a butterfly, swallow-tail markings appearing in purple as Yuichi's energy passes into it. The little-boy-form once inhabited by his soul crumbles into carbon dust, which papers over the material lost from Ichigo's suit, rippling slightly before fully merging with it.

Seeing the slightly disgusted expression on the orange-haired teen's face, Rukia smirks at him. "It's not called a _shihakusho _for nothing, you know. Just be glad it's modernized and not the kimono it used to be."

"Not really the problem... it's that Yuichi was naked when he changed back," He tells her in response to the questioning look she gives him.

Rukia laughs, dimly aware of the confused Chad behind her. "Nothing you haven't seen before. Go back now."

A few seconds later, Ichigo's in possession of his body again, sitting up with a groan. Rukia notes with amusement that while his feet and eyes rapidly shift back to normal, his hair remains quite shaggy, looking as if he hasn't cut it in a couple months at least.

"You okay?" Chad asks, extending a hand to the orange-haired teen, whose briefly terrified expression smooths into his normal guarded look as he takes the offered hand and stands.

"Yeah. You, uh, how much did you see?" Ichigo mutters.

Chad gives him a carefully blank look. "Nothing. Nothing important, anyway." He nods at Rukia. "Nice seeing you outside of class, new girl. Did you get all the homework?"

The violet-eyed girl's goody-two-shoes mask falls right into place. "Oh yes, of course, no need to worry." She smiles sweetly, and one can practically hear the little hearts in her voice. "Kurosaki-san was very helpful. In fact, I believe I offered to help him out with his History homework as a favor in return, so if you'll excuse us, Sado-san, we've got to be going."

The half-Mexican teen nods again. "Sure. See you both tomorrow." And with that, they part ways. One party is left musing on the strange happenings of the day, while the other can think of nothing but the new knowledge Sado Yasutora may have acquired.

Both feel a sense of peace washing over them with the resolution of Shibata Yuichi's pain.

And of course, Ichigo utterly ruins that a few minutes from the house.

"Dammit. Now I'll have to get Yuzu to cut my hair. Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to have your hair grow out every time?" He grumbles. "Ow!"

Rukia glares at him. "And I'll kick you again if you have to ruin the moment. Shut up."

"Fine. But only because you've got such a strong kick, midget."

"Ow!"

* * *

_Argh. I just started to think of a more original plot, only to realize I was kinda in the middle of something and I had another milestone for Ichigo to cross. As soon as he gets his battle with Grand Fisher, we'll start seeing some changes. What kind of monster/yokai should he be, do you think? Put it in my inbox if you want!_

_And officially, I'm discouraging you from putting it in reviews. If you choose to take less than a minute out of your life and tell a very slightly lonely and review-hungry writer her weaknesses and strengths, that is. Unofficially, I'm not responsible for what you do._


End file.
